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SUMMERDALE - During February, the town of Summerdale approved hiring the Buxton Group to assist in bringing in businesses that matched with the town. Since, the town reported progress was already being made, and 12 businesses were interested in possibly locating to the town after Buxton contacted them with information regarding the town.

“The purpose of this is to bring businesses to the town of Summerdale,” said Mayor David Wilson. “We have a handful of businesses that we’re proud of, but we do not have the number of businesses to sustain us where we can do all of the things we would like to do for the town. We’ve been able to pave roads, keep all the lights on, and keep the police protection, but just to operate the police department alone is 50 to 60 % of our entire budget.”

Buxton is an analytical data company that gathers data from towns like Summerdale and matches the information with businesses that fit with the town. The cost for the service is a three-year contract of $50,000 per year, and results are usually seen beginning in the second and third year. Summerdale has created an Economic Development Division and hired Shannon Carlson to head it and set up and meet with potential retailers. She has been hard at work with Buxton to gather the appropriate data needed for the next steps.

“The information Buxton is providing us is invaluable,” said Carlson. “I cannot see how we could do what we need to do without Buxton. They’ve given us all the demographics that we need so we can bring these retailers in and know what we can get from them and what we can provide for them.”

Carlson has begun a marketing campaign for the town, which can be found on their website. The material includes the data collected and released by Buxton as well as information compiled by Carlson pertaining to the reasons retailers should consider Summerdale and what makes it “right where [businesses] want to grow,” the campaign’s tagline. The information includes Summerdale’s key location between the two main highways leading to Orange Beach and Gulf Shores, information Carlson states retailers in New York may not know without being told.

“All this growth that Robertsdale and Foley are invested in is going to encroach on us, and the area is going to grow whether we want it to or not,” Carlson said. “It’s very important as residents of Summerdale that we control that growth, that we have a say in who’s going to come and where they’re going to go and what they’re going to bring to our town. We will be the middleman to facilitate that so we have a say in what comes.”

Buxton takes information provided by Summerdale and data they gather to determine what businesses would be best suited in Summerdale to thrive. To start, Summerdale chose Highways 32 and 59 as the center of activity and focus, creating a trade area of 10-minutes, 15-minutes, and 20-minutes away. Buxton then collected information to determine how many residents live in that area, income, how much they’re willing to spend, median age, and how far they’re willing to drive for certain services.

“There is no way we could have collected all this data on our own, it all came from Buxton,” said Carlson. “Numbers are winning the game now, it’s what businesses want to know, and Buxton supplied us with that.”

At the point of Highways 32 and 59, it was reported there were over 52 thousand residents within a 20-minute radius, many who were willing to drive to get what they want. When looking at trade potential, Buxton provided information stating there is 659 million dollars being spent within Summerdale’s trade area every year, while 160 million dollars are being spent elsewhere because people can’t find what they need within the trade area and are driving outside the area to obtain it.

“Those are our future retailers,” Carlson said. “We can use these numbers to entice them, to show them that there is money that they can make here, because if you can offer people what they need in town I can’t imagine they’d drive if they don’t have to.”

The trade numbers have been broken down into categories such as grocery stores and food to show what residents are driving to find, all which can be seen online at Summerdale’s website.

“Buxton not only represents places like Summerdale that are looking for the businesses to come, but businesses are hiring Buxton on the other end,” Wilson said. “These businesses that Buxton brings to the town of Summerdale are people that they have already matched their criteria with ours and know this is the place they need to locate.” In preparation for oncoming businesses, Summerdale and Carlson have been working to pinpoint all available property within their trade area to be ready for potential retailers.

All information, including demographics collected, available lots, and trade numbers can be found at Summerdale’s website at: www.summerdaleal.com/economic-development-division.