Central City attracts dozens of new businesses since March 2020

Officials in Central City have something to brag about. Since March of 2020, the city has seen a lot of new businesses open in town. As the pandemic hit, a decision was made to prioritize helping small businesses weather the mandated shut-downs. The result was a flurry of new growth.

Tammy Piper, who has been overseeing the Central City Convention and Wellness Center since 2009, found herself looking for a new direction when the center was temporarily closed at the early part of the covid-19 pandemic. Mayor Tony Armour asked her to shift her focus to offering individual assistance to businesses in the city.

“My job was to stay in close contact with our businesses to make sure they had whatever they needed for their business to stay successful through covid. Whatever they needed to keep their doors open,” Piper said.

The result of this work is a business-friendly climate and 32 new businesses opening from March 2020 to the present.

Piper has since shifted her role with the city away from the Convention Center, which will have a new manager in the coming weeks, to business development. City officials are hoping to lure larger industry to the city, but Piper said helping the small businesses is part of getting their ducks in a row.

“We decided that the first stage was to get small businesses in our downtown, and I would have never imagined that we would have opened this many,” Piper said.

New businesses opening their doors in Central City offer a wide variety of goods and services. There are new restaurants, from small mom-and-pop spots to national chains, retail shops, auto repair, a house painter, a meat processor and butcher shop, an ice cream parlor, two bakeries and even a motocross track, just to name a few.

Piper said city officials took an “if you build it, they will come” approach, and personal attention is a big part of their plan. She is available to help new businesses with filing paperwork and finding a location. “There’s not a business in this community that doesn’t have my cell phone number,” she said.

This new pace of growth is a good sign. Before this recent boom of people starting up new businesses in town, the city was losing businesses. “We wanted to reverse that,” Piper said. “We’re open for business, and if you want to open a new business, we’re here.”

Part of the success is the positive attitude the city uses through its social media channels. Posts highlight the city’s businesses, upcoming events, and promotions. Piper said this encourages people to strike out on their own and start that business they’ve been dreaming about.

“Sometimes when they call me, they’re on the fence,” Piper said. The city offers help in any way they can, she said.

“I think almost everyone wants a business,” said Mayor Tony Armour. “I think as we all walk through life, we all want to open a business, but we’re scared.” In his own life experience, Armour has owned several, some that were successful and others that failed. This gives him a vantage point for seeing how the city can help those looking for opportunities.

Armour was quick to say that not all new businesses reached out to the city for assistance. But those who have, find support. “I think people just need reassurance that somebody else cares, and somebody else will try to help.”

Now the city is looking toward bigger goals. Piper said she hopes to be able to attract companies with 50 or more employees that are looking for skilled labor. Former coal miners and TVA employees now travel outside the county to work. Piper hopes to reverse that trend. “We know we have the workforce here for skilled labor.”

The city has seen multi-million dollar improvement projects to infrastructure over the past decade, including $22 million in water system improvements and another $21 million in sewer system upgrades. The next step is running water and sewer systems across the Western Kentucky Parkway to reach the south side of the interchange of the parkway and U.S. Route 431, Armour said.

The opportunities for businesses to grow around the exit from the Western Kentucky Parkway is something Amour has his sights on, and improving the infrastructure will attract those businesses.

Bringing large-scale operations to the city that offer high-wage, skilled jobs is not an easy task, Armour said. “You have got to be prepared. You have got to have the infrastructure for business, you have got to have education for business, and the workforce.”

As the city begins the next phase of attracting new business, officials are pleased with all that is happening in town. Tourism is growing, people are eating in the restaurants and supporting locally owned businesses.

“We’ve tried to help our businesses,” Amour said, “and any business that reaches out to us and wants to come to Central City, we are willing to sit down with them, talk to them and try to help in any way we can.”