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Brewery, more retail <br />It would be good to have more consumer-oriented retail in Lake Elmo to bring in ordinary shoppers who now go to Stillwater or Woodbury - a "General Store" other retail, grocers, more <br />choice in restaurants. <br />The restaurant's suppliers need not be very local. More traffic coming to other businesses would help to increase the number of potential customers. Estimates that 50 % of his business is <br />people who see XXXX's as a destination, 50% are driving by and stop in. <br />A complementary local business could be a pet store/pet supply location. Customers now go to Woodbury or Stillwater big box pet store locations. <br />Interesting question - their business partners are real estate companies and banks.. Otherwise, not a lot of connection to local businesses <br />They would like to have a local company that offers storage. They would like to engage a local construction company to built the playgrounds they design. They moved their business from St. <br />Louis Park to Lake Elmo for business advantage (Lake Elmo is growing) and because they got a good deal on a suitable building. <br />They rely more on referrals, more foot traffic would not benefit their business very much. They use a 3rd party social media provider and pay for a sign at Lions Park field. <br />A complementary business would be a gym, health club, other fitness activities nearby etc. They get some business leads from foot traffic but rely on mostly social media and referrals from <br />fitness coaches to get new patients. Some more prominent signage may be helpful but regulations are limiting <br />They would like to have a nearby business which rents out climate-controlled, easily accessible storage space. 1500 sq ft is needed to store their home staging articles. An ice-cream shop <br />would benefit from more traffic in general, but the hair salon is more of a destination business. <br />Partnerships with schools to have a program where students regularly visit the nature center for education <br />would benefit from more nearby businesses whose employees might be able to drop off a car to get work done, then pick it up before they go home. <br />more retail business would attract more shoppers, some of whom could use our services this business is a destination for some customers and a drop-in for other customers. <br /> better signage would enable some people to recognize the business location and come back later <br />6. Is there anything the City or EDA can do to help your bsuiness grow and expand? <br />They would like to see a more flexible rule for business signage - perhaps seasonal installation of a suitable sign? <br />Have city staff or commission members come out to see what is being planned before writing up a recommendation or making a vote. Have consultation sessions with cooperation rather than <br />rule-based pushback against development requests. The city is perceived as non-collaborative and unhelpful, sometimes it seems like a confrontational situation. <br />The city is perceived to treat businesses unevenly, what has been allowed for one business is denied for another. For safety and smooth traffic flow, Krueger Tree farm would like to be able to <br />set up small lighted signs to direct the incoming and outgoing traffic in the evenings from Thanksgiving to Christmas but the regulation does not allow such signage. If a business asks for <br />permission to do something, the request is "put under the microscope" to look for items that might be against the rules, rather than having an open discussion of what is needed and what