Commentary

POMEROY–A couple very important transactions occurred recently, both being something that the people of Pomeroy should really appreciate. In my view, the impact of these 2022 occurrences will be enjoyed for generations to come. Underscoring it all is recent news that a start-up here will be closing soon.

I’m talking about Brad and Lisa Gingerich’s recent sale of the Pomeroy Pharmacy to a home-grown product, Tory Knebel, and Sean Thurston of Elk Drug in Dayton. And last August, Mark Schmidt’s sale of Pomeroy Foods to the father-and-son team of experienced grocers, Dave Swearingen and Jason Hill.

The new ownership of both businesses will pay dividends for the community in the years to come. They are also a rarity in this second decade of the 21st Century.

In the past few years, Pomeroy has lost two financial institutions, US Bank and Lewis Clark Credit Union. One of its restaurants, Tonia’s, also closed after being on the market for some time without a buyer stepping up.

A fine eatery opened to take up the slack, Katrina and Greg Sharp’s The Bakers Table, but sadly, they’ve announced the establishment’s closing in a couple weeks after being open just shy of one year. The Bakers Table followed Palace Meats and Deli, which no doubt was not helped by the COVID-19 pandemic, it being something of a miracle that it opened in the midst of the national business shutdown and operated for roughly 12 months.

Pomeroy will have a pharmacy and a well-stocked grocery store for years to come, thanks to those who stepped in to operate the businesses. Running a small business in today’s economic and regulatory climate is not for the faint of heart. Just ask any small business owner, like the fella who owns the local farm machinery business, the editor/publisher of the local paper, or either of the former owners of the pharmacy or grocery store.

Small-business ownership is often a labor of love and those who work in rural small businesses have to have a passion for it to compete with the alternative: having a job with a company, being a cog in a big machine.

Pomeroy once boasted several banks, a few farm implement/equipment dealerships and even a Chevrolet dealership. In its heyday, there were hotels and restaurants and watering holes.

New to the community is something of a first for Pomeroy: a chain store. The Dollar General has opened at the east edge of town, one of over 18,000 in the system. It will offer the usual grab-n-go, high-demand items and the revenue it produces, other than some wages and property taxes, are unlikely to be recirculated here locally.

People in Pomeroy and Garfield County live here for the matchless quality of life. Our fine schools, the exemplary support for the youth and their activities and success, not to mention the “spare-time” pursuits found on our pristine golf course or in the nearby Blues. Many long-time families have ensured a succession of sons and daughters to continue to stand on the shoulders of earlier generations.

Today’s young people seem less inclined to step into ownership roles in small business, so when it does happen, we as a community need to respond to it and give our support. There has to be more reward for the business owner than just the good feelings of providing a much-needed service to the people of Garfield County and the city of Pomeroy.

We need to help ensure their continued success and trade with them as much as possible.

They may be the last of a kind: young people brought up in a working family, raised learning about responsibility and diligence in one’s labors, and the rewards such behavior brings. Let us all do what we can as individuals to make sure there is another generation coming along with the desire to live and work in a rural community like Pomeroy.