Growing businesses: Local companies, national chains seek Christian County sites

Sue Larimer, executive director of the Ozark Area Chamber of Commerce, said work started about a month ago for Ozark's Wal-Mart Supercenter, and a Lowe's store and a Ruby Tuesday restaurant also are planned for Ozark.

"I've been working on them for a year and a half," said Ozark Mayor Donna McQuay of Ruby Tuesday. "Every time I sit down in a restaurant, they always ask how the food is and I say, It would taste better in Ozark.'"

Ozark City Administrator Collin Quigley said a lot of businesses are beginning to seek out Ozark.

"We're strategically located where they want to be, we've got the labor force here, we've got the infrastructure in place, we've got a four-lane divided highway running right through Ozark," Quigley said. "We've got a lot to offer."

McQuay said that 7.5 million cars a year travel between Springfield and Branson.

"(Businesses) see the potential customers for retail in that area," she said. "I want to try to keep good, clean business in our community and keep the quality of life we have."

Ozark's largest five employers, according to Larimer, are the school system, Mostly Memories, Lambert's Cafe, Wal-Mart and Ozark Riverview Manor.

The top five employers in Nixa are the school district, Wal-Mart, Micro Innovations, Nixa Park Care Center and Springfield Aluminum, according to Sharon Whitehill Gray, executive director of Nixa's Chamber of Commerce.

With 475 employees, Stephen Kleinsmith, Nixa superintendent of schools, said about 55 percent of employees overall live within the district. However, results of a survey conducted in 2000 showed that the majority of Nixa's citizens held employment elsewhere, which creates another problem, according to Nixa City Administrator Brian Bingle.

"When you have 70 percent of your population working outside of your jurisdiction, the only time that retail sales are occurring would either be during the evenings or on the weekends," Bingle said. He added that as more businesses sprout and the labor pool increases in the city, more daytime activity can be expected.

Wonders of Wal-Mart

Nixa's Wal-Mart Supercenter is doing its share to create more activity. While most of the store's 400 employees are Nixa residents, General Manager Mike Murphy said the remainder reside in other areas of Christian County.

The Supercenter may have had a hand in luring other nationally known businesses to town as well. "A lot of restaurants and major chains will look, and if a town can sustain a Wal-Mart, they feel like it can sustain their business, too," Murphy said.

Andy Holman, general manager of Applebee's in Nixa, said Supercenters can be a big draw when the corporation considers building in smaller markets. "If you look at the (Supercenter) here, it's full all the time," . said Holman, who manages about 50 employees.

The full Supercenter helps another Nixa landmark stay busy. In the last four years, business has doubled at Nixa Hardware, a 103-year-old, family-owned store.

"(Wal-Mart) didn't do anything but help us," said Joe Glenn, general manager. "The key to it is it brings more people to Nixa. Anything that brings more people to town to shop helps us."

As the town's growth caused a natural increase in business, the store expanded its inventory to accommodate the change from the farm to the urban market. Seed and hardware, still big sellers, are offered alongside power equipment, lawn decor, fountains and zero-turn lawnmowers.

"We're a lot different than Wal-Mart. We sell a lot of different type items, so we really complement each other. (There are) a lot of things they don't handle that we handle. We kind of feed off of each other," Glenn said.

There are days, Glenn said, when it is difficult to get the customers through the door. Congested traffic and a small parking lot, made even smaller by recent expansion of the store, are ongoing challenges.

Ozark's Wal-Mart Supercenter, expected to open in April 2004, should bring more than shoppers off the highway.

"The way that the council structured that agreement with the developer was that it would be guaranteed new sales tax," Quigley said. "Sales tax that doesn't exist now that would come from new sales to pay for public improvements that are necessary for that whole commercial development, not just Wal-Mart."

Chambers of commerce

The area's rapid growth has affected chambers of commerce in Nixa and Ozark, with both directors placing a priority on continuing to meet the needs of their expanding memberships.

Ozark's chamber added a second full-time staff member and relocated to a larger office about a year ago. Larimer, who has been with Ozark's chamber for nine years, said, "This used to be kind of a sleepy little chamber." Membership is now at 311. "We're branching out and offering our businesses more of what they need," Larimer said, including networking opportunities like Business After Hours.

Gray said the 330-plus members of Nixa's chamber are dedicated to each other.

"I see a tremendous effort on these members' part to encourage new businesses and help those businesses' development," Gray said.

The chamber conducts ribbon-cutting ceremonies for new businesses at noon on Wednesdays, and members are joining so quickly that sometimes two or three ribbon-cuttings take place on the same day.

Nixa's economic development committee consists of the mayor, city administrator, fire chief, superintendent of schools, Christian County sheriff and several business owners. Gray said it's great for these entities to work hand-in-hand. "We're all striving for the same thing and that's to build a better community."