Business View Magazine | February 2018

234 235 centers, called The Crossroads.That inline shop will have a Kay Jewelers opening up in early 2018. We’ve seen a rue21 open in the past year, as well as a Maurices–both of those are women’s clothing stores.A newveterinarian came into another one of our major retail nodes, known as the Glassford Hill Marketplace.The Foothills Bank also located over there, and we’re seeing the continued construction of an Advance Auto Parts in the Glassford Hill Mar- ketplace.And we’ve seen smaller builds like Dutch Brothers Coffee and Rilibertos Mexican Restaurant. We’ve also seen some smaller, locally-owned busi- nesses, such as a café that also has a retail compo- nent, called Rafter Eleven.” Regarding retail and commercial locations, Hooper reveals that the town is eager to work with developers and end users to create individualized incentive packages.“We do not believe that a one- size-fits-all incentive package is appropriate be- cause each deal is different and so we will provide incentives; but we don’t have a pull-off-the-shelf tax abatement or something like that.We try to make sure that the incentive fits the deal, that it makes sense for our tax-paying residents, that it makes sense for the developer and end user, and, of course, for the Town.” Mike Paredes is the Executive Director of the Prescott Valley Economic Development Foundation, a private, non-profit entity that works closely with the town to attract and retain businesses.“What we PRESCOTT VALLEY, ARIZONA are charged with is job creation of ‘base’ jobs, which are those jobs in the manufacturing, assembly, and industrial sectors,”he explains. “The organization is strictly a business at- traction, business retention, and business expansion organization.We market outside of Prescott Valley, usually outside the State of Arizona, looking at potential clients in the in- dustrial sector to relocate or expand into our area.The sectors that we go after are aero- space,manufacturing,warehouse distribution, education, and medical.” “What I go after are those small to mid- sized companies–from ten to a 125 employ- ees.Most manufacturers in the area fall into that number,”Paredes continues.“That is our niche.We work with the Arizona Commerce Authority,which is our state economic devel- opment agency.Also,we are very aggressive in working with national and international site consultants.We work with them to mar- ket Prescott Valley as a place to do business; as a place to set up shop.My job is to get in front of these clients and tell them our local story.And we take a proactive approach in assisting those companies that already exist in terms of business expansion–what they are needing today and, perhaps, one, five, or ten years down the line.At the end of the day, we want them to stay, so we work hard on