City making an attempt to meet consumers’ needs
As Cache County’s economy escalates, Logan City is actively attempting to meet consumers’ rising demands for a more diverse business market.
The world of business is a competitive market in which someone makes something, a good or service, and sells it, said Economic Development Director of Logan City Nevin Limburg. Nothing happens in the American economy until this is done, he said.
Logan is currently trying to keep more sales in the valley, he said.
“We have $100,000 leaving the valley,” Limburg said. “We’re trying to close that retail gap. People are going outside the valley to shop so Logan has to provide the services and products that people want. That’s what will keep our dollars here.”
This is where national businesses like Home Depot, Lowe’s and Old Navy come into play, Limburg said. If that’s what people want and will keep them shopping here, he said, that is what the city will try to give.
Larger businesses coming in will inevitably affect smaller businesses in the area, but it “gives [smaller businesses] the opportunity to compete for those dollars,” Limburg said. “If those dollars are kept here [in Cache Valley], they can compete for those dollars.”
Smaller businesses in the Logan area welcome a little healthy competition. Gary Hanson, store manager of JC Penney’s said he believes the arrival of Old Navy would benefit the store and the valley.
“It will keep more junior business in town. We need more variety,” he said.
Assistant Manager Nicole Norris of Maurices agreed.
“We lose a lot of business because people do their shopping out of the valley,” she said. “I think it will help keep people shopping here in Logan rather than in Ogden or Layton.”
Dixon Thomson, owner of Thomson Electric, said the way to compete with larger, national businesses is with “ingenuity, skill, experience, education and superior customer service. You have to compete on price level, but you also have to compete with having superior customer service.”
Another benefit to having commercial and retail businesses come into Logan, Limburg said, is to “help solve our under-employment problem.”
Referring specifically to people who are either over-educated or over-skilled, Limburg said Logan city is trying to create higher paying jobs by bringing these businesses in.
Overall, he said, there is a “very good variety of businesses in the community. We have very strong manufacturing and industrial firms” – many of which people don’t even know about, he said.
Although new businesses coming in helps Logan Valley, Limburg said the city doesn’t put a lot of emphasis on bringing them into town. “We mostly focus on the businesses we already have in the valley and on meeting their needs.”
One of the chief ways they do this is by visiting with local businesses to find out what their needs are and providing sites for them.
“We’ve done a lot of that,” Limburg said. “That’s what’s fueled our economy here and has caused [Logan] to be a pretty safe haven that people want to come to.”
Limburg foresees Logan’s economy curve will continue to spiral upward over the next five years as the city continues to grow.