“There are a ton of opportunities in this community, and you have a lot of assets.”

Economic Development Commission Director Mickey Fornaro-Dean said when most people think of economic development they think retail.

“Smithfield has a huge facility on the corner of town, Foot locker; but everybody everyday drives and sees the retail shops or the restaurants,” said Dean. “I’ve been talking to members of the community about what can we do to support retail holistically – that’d be supporting each other if there’s smaller entrepreneurs in retail that need some advice or assistance all the way up to what do we want to look for to recruit that’s missing in the community.”

Fornaro-Dean said that “retail is a critical mass industry” and “when you have more people asking for it and staying and shopping” then more retail starts to build.

Growing the population of the community and bringing more jobs add to the “layering effect” of economic development – one layer promotes or makes way for the other.

“Now the challenge those opportunities and those assets and building on those to create the opportunities that can come our way.”

Fornaro-Dean noted that Junction City will have a full page ad and investment profile in the Made in the Heart of America magazine which is geared toward site selectors or individuals representing companies look for new locations, expansions or moves.