Businesses accommodate street project; advising: ’step carefully’

It’s no small task doing business in small towns today, most local business owners grudgingly admit.
Still, they open the doors to business every morning at the same time every day.
Fighting the draw of encompassing city centers and dealing with a diminishing customer base are just two universal factors impacting retail businesses.
Omnipresent better describes the realities facing business owners in towns the size of Hillsboro.
Throw in the calamities that accompany curb and gutter replacement work outside your store and suddenly doing business with a smile on your face takes on new meaning, to say nothing of going about business as usual in trying to make ends meet.
This has been the scene all around Hillsboro, from the downtown business district to the I-29 group of businesses.
Jackhammers breaking apart decades-old sidewalks, curbs and gutters, all in front of your store, are hardly the stuff of marketing strategies.
Give credit to Hillsboro’s business owners, their employees and customers.
Because, despite the turmoil of the everyday construction, it has been business as usual all around town; “just watch your step,” everyone is cautioned.
Businesses and customers are to be commended with putting up with the mess. Construction crews brought to town for the street project are to be complimented on the job they’re doing; quieting jackhammers, calming nerves and settling the dust and dirt cannot be accomplished until the hard work is finished.
From the business owner to the customer to the street worker, everyone knows the obligations and expenditures involved in a citywide street project. The end result is a better town to live and work in.
The work is expanding from the business district and the west side of Hillsboro to the residential neighborhoods on the east side of Highway 200.
When your sidewalk and curb are marked in red, beware: men and machine will soon follow.
Hillsboro Business Association officers appreciate the good work, cooperation and patience of all involved, said Neil Nelson, HBA president.
It’s been an especially difficult situation for some businesses, said Nelson.
“But the business owners, managers and employees and especially the customers have all accommodated the necessary work and delays that come with a curb and gutter project.”
Added Nelson: “Thanks again to everyone, and watch your step.”
Caution is also advised in driving the streets of Hillsboro as work in the summer-long project is citywide.

HBA to reward
city’s lucky dad
The Hillsboro Business Association Father’s Day promotion ends next week.
Families are urged to register their fathers at stores downtown and at the interstate interchange. Registration ends Tuesday.
Father’s Day is Sunday, June 17.
The winner of the HBA Father’s Day package this year will receive more than $250 in products, gas cards and gift certificates.
Businesses contributing to the HBA promotion include NAPA, Olsen Hardware, Dale’s Food Pride, Cenex C-Store, Stop-N-Go, Sorum Oil Co., Custom Aire, Wells Fargo, Dakota Heritage Bank and The Goose River Bank.
The winner last year in the Father’s Day drawing was Tracy Buzick, of Hillsboro. Betty Meyer, Hillsboro, was the winner last month in the HBA Mother’s Day drawing.

Sign dedication
planned in July
Next on the HBA agenda is the July 12 dedication of the electronic billboard sign, downtown Hillsboro.
HBA members will be serving a brat feed around suppertime at a block party planned for the Main Street block running adjacent the city’s Railroad Park.
“The whole community is invited,” said Nelson.
The evening feed and entertainment will be free-will; proceeds will go toward HBA’s pledge to the Hillsboro Medical Center’s building project. HBA members this year pledged $2,500 over five years to the medical center’s $12.5 million construction project.

Larson accepts
Grand Forks job
In business news around Hillsboro, Lenita Larson has accepted a position in Grand Forks with Wells Fargo.
For the last three years, Larson has been president of Hillsboro’s Wells Fargo bank.
Larson, who became a mother late last year, wanted to spend more time with her daughter.
A bank presidency doesn’t allow that luxury, said Larson.
Still, she said, leaving the Hillsboro bank was a terribly difficult decision.
“Hillsboro is such a good community and the Wells Fargo bank and its employees are so much a part of the community that deciding to leave was hard.”
Larson expects Wells Fargo will soon have the Hillsboro bank position filled.

In other business news . . .
On Main Street, the remodeling at Hillsboro Drug and Gift continues.
The major renovation has been a challenge for the staff and the drug store’s customers, said pharmacist Randy Habek.
“It’s going about as good as we can expect. It’ll get better soon.”
A display advertisement appearing regularly in the Banner has chronicled the remodeling project.
Last week’s ad actually questioned if someone —- a worker or Mary Sue Boeddeker, a long-time employee of the business — was, in fact, missing in the construction maze.
It was a false alarm, Habek offered.
“Everyone was accounted for.”
At the north end of Main, bar owner Larry Simonson has purchased the building adjacent the A&R Bar. Simonson plans to expand the bar into the next door building, which was owned by Shirley Westphal.
And, on Hwy. 200, Sorum Oil is now handling a fuel additive that was successfully tested by Hillsboro farmers.
A Callaway, Minn. family business, producing and distributing the product — CA-40 — at its Richwood, Minn. plant, hopes to distribute the additive worldwide.