Ordinance Opens Osceola to Commercial Business

Dickie Kennemore

People are coming to Osceola to work, but city leaders are trying to get them to spend their downtime there too.

As it enjoys a boom in industrial jobs, thanks in large part to the steel industry, Osceola has passed a city ordinance designed to draw commercial business and improve the quality of life.

The ordinance allows for incentives in the form of grants to attract the kinds of businesses, including a soon-to-open grocery store, that make people want to be residents instead of commuters, Mayor Dickie Kennemore said.

“A lot of the people that are coming here to work, they’ll get a job but they might not live here,” Kennemore said. “They’ll live closer to Memphis or closer to Jonesboro because they have more amenities, commercial-wise.”

The first new amenity is a supermarket set to open in the former Food Giant. Kennemore said the most recent, projected opening date for the store is Nov. 1.

“The proof is in the pudding. … So we’ve got the supermarket,” Kennemore said.

Osceola-based Big River Steel employs more than 500 people. During the summer it announced plans for a $1.2 billion expansion that would add another 500 jobs.

Nucor and Nucor-Yamato have locations in nearby Blytheville, close to 20 miles from Osceola in the northern end of Mississippi County.

Kennemore wants to grow more creature comforts in hopes of attracting new residents along with the jobs. After Osceola lost two supermarkets within the past three years, leaving Walmart as the only grocery shopping option, Kennemore made that the first priority.

Nothing against one of Arkansas’ most famous companies, Kennemore said of Walmart, but he felt there should be a market with a deli and bakery among the options for local consumers.

A community in Arkansas cannot legally offer incentives to commercial businesses, only industrial, but grants are allowed. Kennemore came up with the idea of using profits from utility company Osceola Power and Light and reserve funds to create the grants, and the ordinance passed 6-0.

Each prospective new business is to be evaluated and approved by the council on a case-by-case basis and meet certain criteria before its incentives are paid. 

The group of investors behind the new supermarket includes Bill Mangat and partner Dr. Pratapji Thakor, who own grocery and liquor stores in nearby communities, including Blytheville and LePanto, Kennemore said. Thakor also owns Mississippi Co. Primary Care in Osceola.

The ordinance also requires that the community has to benefit financially at an amount greater than it spends in incentives, and that the mayor is empowered to negotiate agreements if the criteria are met.

“I sat down with the investors and we negotiated an agreement,” Kennemore said. “That was enough for them and they’re going to open a supermarket in the old Food Giant.”

The store is expected to employ 40, and 20 must be from Osceola, Kennemore said. It is conservatively projected to generate $3 million in sales, though sales at the Food Giant were between $4 million-$5 million. 

The city is paying $75,000 a year in incentives, and Osceola Power and Light is kicking in an additional $75,000, Kennemore said. The incentives sunset after seven years.

“We are benefitting in quality of life issues, creating jobs, creating sales tax and electricity sales and sewer sales,” Kennemore said.

While Osceola has hotels, Kennemore said he would like to see a more upscale lodging with a restaurant and bar as well as fast food franchises and retail outlets. 

“We’ve got a first-rate parks and recreation program already,” Kennemore said. “And we’ve got first-rate, high-paying jobs. And when they come in we can say, ‘Now you can shop here or go to the supermarket or to get fast food.’ We’ve got a few clothing stores but we want to expand that. We want the whole pie.”