Mayor O'Connell touts Nashville's business longevity record in recent speeches
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Photo illustration: Axios Visuals. Photo: Terry Wyatt/Getty Images
Armed with a newly released study, Mayor Freddie O'Connell has been touting Nashville's friendly climate for business longevity in recent speeches.
Why it matters: O'Connell wants to shed light on the positive side of Nashville's economy at a time when high-profile hospitality businesses have shuttered.
- Critics blame some of the closures on the city's rising property tax bills following last year's reappraisals and rate increase.
Driving the news: Nashville ranks third in the nation for business longevity, according to newly released data from Squarespace.
- O'Connell highlighted the ranking in a recent speech to the Nashville Area Restaurant Alliance.
Zoom in: This month, O'Connell presented East Nashville retail shop Gift Horse with an official proclamation celebrating its 10th anniversary.
- In a video shared on social media, O'Connell again celebrated the business ranking.
What he's saying: "It's really neat, because we just found out a couple weeks ago that Nashville is third in the nation for business longevity. So you are helping," O'Connell told the store owner.
By the numbers: The Squarespace study analyzed business longevity across 19 industries using data from the U.S. Census Bureau's Business Dynamics Statistics. The analysis compared business entry, exit and net growth data to come up with an overall ranking.
- The Nashville area came in at No. 3, with an entry rate of 12.26% and an exit rate of 9.03%.
- "This results in a healthy net business growth rate of 3.23%, showing that entrepreneurs are finding opportunities to successfully launch and sustain businesses in the region," the Squarespace report says.
Flashback: O'Connell recently championed Germantown pizza shop 312 Pizza Co. when its owners went public with their concerns about closing. 312 remains open after the community rallied around it.
Reality check: While the Squarespace study took a holistic approach by examining several sectors, Nashville's hospitality industry has seen prominent businesses like Varallo's, 12South Taproom and Burger Up close in the last year or so.
- Lower Broad honky-tonks have led a chorus of small-business owners criticizing their increased tax bills following appraisals and then a rate increase by O'Connell and the Metro Council.
The bottom line: O'Connell has been pursuing solutions to help long-running businesses.
- His administration introduced a slate of legislation last month to provide grant funds to small businesses. The grant program is viewed as more of a test case for how Metro can help than a cure-all for struggling mom-and-pops.
- One focus of the grant funds is businesses in operation at least 15 years.