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Impact of changes in Houston on businesses

With the closure of Houston Forest Products, Huckleberry Mine, and the Supervalu grocery store, it’s bound to have an impact

With the closure of Houston Forest Products, Huckleberry Mine, and the Supervalu grocery store, it’s bound to have an impact on the businesses in town.

Many have had to become innovative and reformat their business in order to continue to be sustainable.

“When the mill closed I thought it would be the toughest for my business since that was the same year I started Blooming Arrangements. But it seems the mine and the loss of a grocery store hit my business even harder. Unfortunately I had to temporarily close Blooming Arrangements in August [2016] since business was slower. I recently redesigned my business for special occasions and events hoping this would work better, commented Lorinda Vanderheide, owner of BloomingArrangements.

With that kind of loss in tax dollars and in the numbers of families and residents, investment into Houston has reduced.

“It has been down somewhat. With Houston Forest Products taken, after a year we are starting to see it’s effect of less money circulating,” commented Tom Euverman, owner of Countrywide Stationery Ltd.

Despite the difficulties of people leaving town to grab their amenities, shops in Houston are still hopeful and committed to the community.

“Traffic coming in has decreased. It’s difficult. But I chose to be in Houston 10 years ago, and I choose to be here now,”commented Christine Landstrom, owner of Annie’s Flowers.

It’s not just the incoming of business that has been affected, but also the way in which businesses would get their stock and resources, and in turn reinvest into Houston.

“Business is slower than it used to be. This past summer has been one of the slowest summers since I’ve been here. With Supervalu closing, if there is a shortage on my stock, it’s a bit harder to go to the store and get stuff,” commented DanaMiller, owner of Brewstir's.

Discussion about what might be needed to help the businesses in Houston survive this depression have been thrown out there.

“What we need is a dialogue between the businesses and the leaders and council members of our town,” commented Euverman.

Now with the shop local initiative in place, a Houston Chamber of Commerce initiative program that was directed by theDistrict of Houston council in order to help local businesses get through the winter, and $14,000 going to be circulated back into town, keeping dollars local.