Chamber Amplified
Each week Doug Jenkins of the Findlay-Hancock County Chamber of Commerce talks to industry experts to help local businesses find new ideas, operate more efficiently, and adapt to ever-changing conditions.
Chamber Amplified
Best Of Chamber Amplified: Small Town Revitalization & Downtown Momentum
Originally aired February 24, 2023
Doug Jenkins is back with another Best Of episode of Chamber Amplified, and this one is a must-listen for anyone thinking about downtown development, small town revitalization, and building momentum in local communities.
In this episode, Doug sits down with Jason Duff, founder of Small Nation in Bellefontaine, Ohio, to unpack how one small town went from struggling storefronts to a thriving destination through incremental development, local entrepreneurship, and private investment.
Jason shares what actually moves the needle in rural communities: creating gathering places, reducing fear around competition, and building a critical mass of businesses that makes a downtown a destination. The conversation also connects the dots to communities like McComb and other small towns that have the “bones” to grow again - if the right vision and investment come together.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What Small Nation does and why their model focuses on “places, spaces, and dreams”
- How Bellefontaine went from 80% vacant first floors to real downtown momentum
- Why restaurants and gathering spaces often serve as catalyst projects
- The “critical mass” effect: how more businesses can increase traffic for everyone
- Real results from Bellefontaine’s transformation:
- 56 historic buildings renovated
- 7 new restaurants launched
- 34 upper-floor loft apartments created
- 20+ specialty retail stores added
- $30M in new private capital invested (without public subsidies)
- Why fear of competition slows growth - and how communities overcome it
- What small towns can do Monday–Thursday vs. how they can win on weekends
- Why remote work, quality-of-life amenities, and community identity matter more than ever
Guest:
Jason Duff — Founder, Small Nation (Bellefontaine, OH)
🌐 smallnationstrong.com
🎧 Small Nation Podcast (available on Apple Podcasts + major platforms)
Great for listeners interested in:
Downtown development, community revitalization, rural economic development, small business growth, tourism strategy, placemaking, and entrepreneurship in small towns.
Chamber Amplified is a podcast from the Findlay-Hancock County Chamber of Commerce, featuring practical conversations that help local businesses and communities grow.
Have a topic idea for a future episode?
📧 Doug Jenkins: djenkins@findlayhancockchamber.com
Music and sound effects obtained from https://www.zapsplat.com
Hey everybody, Doug Jenkins from the Finlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce. Another best of episode of Chamber Amplified for you today. And we'll have a couple more of these before we get back into the regular swing of things. Right now, as you're listening to this, I'm at a conference with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for their Institute of Organizational Management. So no time for interviews this week. Next week will be kind of the same, but then we'll get caught back up on things. For this best of, we're going all the way back to February 24th of 2023, when we talk to Jason Duff of Small Nation in Belfountain, Ohio. We'll talk all about uh the transformation that they had in Belfountain and how that got started in the context of the episode. One of the reasons I wanted to highlight this is one of our goals and focuses of 2026. We just want to make sure that the downtown area continues to be an area where people want to come and gather, whether it be for work, whether it's for social events, whether it's for community events, what have you. We want to make sure we're continuing to do the things that draw people to the area that way. This is a really good primer for that, if that's something that you're looking at in 2026. Enjoy the episode, and I'll see you soon. Coming up next on Chamber Amplified.
Jason Duff:And I think that's where a lot of towns struggle to get that momentum, is there's fear around competition, or there's fear around someone's going to take dollars out of my pocket when the exact opposite happens. And so that's kind of been the incremental development approach. You know, where we're at today, in Bellfoun, there's been 56 historic buildings that have been renovated, seven new restaurants that have been started, 34 upper four loft apartments, 20 plus specialty retail stores, and about $30 million in new private capital.
Doug Jenkins:Welcome to the show. I'm Doug Jenkins from the Finlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce. On each episode of Chamber Amplified, we're examining issues impacting the local business community, whether it be employee recruitment, retention, marketing, IT issues, development, really anything that can be impacting your business. Our goal is to give our members tips each week on at least one way they can improve operations and thrive in the current business environment. So I'm really excited about today's show because it really hits home for me, quite literally, as a matter of fact. I'm gonna let you in on a little secret about me. A lot of people think I'm from here, grew up here. I'm actually not from here, grew up about an hour south in Huntsville, Ohio, which is a town of about 250 or so people. Now, if you're not familiar with Huntsville, that's okay. We have our own versions of Huntsville here in Hancock County with some of our smaller villages. Now, growing up, my dad would always tell me stories about how there used to be a lot in Huntsville. There were five or six gas stations, which believe me, that sounds big if you grew up in Huntsville, because there weren't that many gas stations. We had a stoplight. Uh it used to have its own high school. I mean, this thing sounded cool, but it was definitely not my experience growing up. It just wasn't the same village. My guest today is Jason Duff, who owns a company called Small Nation, which aims to help smaller communities thrive once again. They've done work in Bellfountain that's nothing short of incredible, and today we're talking about how that model can apply to even smaller communities. Thanks again for tuning in. Remember, if you're listening on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, you can rate and review the show. It really does help spread the word. Now let's get into it. And welcoming into the podcast, Jason Duff from Small Nation in Bellfountain. Jason, the principal of the company. I've known Jason for almost my entire life, actually. Uh, and uh and Jason, a lot of great things happen in Bell Fountain. Thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me, Doug. It's great to be on the show. So let's get people familiar with Small Nation before we kind of get into the topic of developing smaller communities and what that takes. What do you guys do at Small Nation?
Speaker:Well, I grew up in a family business very much like you. So third generation family business guy grew up in a tiny town, the the big uh town of Huntsville, Ohio, which I know you have a special affinity with to with to. Oh, yeah. A town that had a stoplight, a gas station, and I was always really proud to say a pretty awesome restaurant called the Town Troll. I dipped so many ice cream cones there. You did. And and you know, it's it's it, but this it was those experiences of growing up in a in a small town and being around parents and family that um started small businesses that you know when I when I had a chance to go to college and and I got out of college and wanted to find something to do on my own. Um, a lot of things had changed in the towns where like you and I grew up. Um the big box pharmacies came in and pulled out a lot of the independence. A lot of the main street businesses that we all experienced and benefited from growing up either closed or were challenged by the big department stores or the malls or the invention of the internet and shopping on the internet. So, you know, I kind of came out of school and and and decided I wanted to create a company. And for the longest time, I never even knew what I would call it. Um, so I bought and and started investing in real estate. And um a lot of people said that investing in real estate in a small town is probably not a good idea. Like, how are you gonna start the restaurants, the coffee shops, all the kind of things that make a small town important? But what I realized is that small towns actually outnumber larger cities when you look at where manufacturing takes place, where majority of the population lives around our country. So there's a whole nation of small businesses and entrepreneurs that really, why the word small as the label, they're actually pretty mighty. So I build a company called Small Nation, and we invest in places, spaces, and dreams for small towns and small town entrepreneurs. Which is great to see.
Doug Jenkins:And the proof is right there in Belfoun. Now, Belfounten itself is what, eight to ten, eight to twelve thousand people around.
Speaker:Yeah, so the city itself is 14,000 people. We're located in Logan County, which is 46,000 people, and we're, you know, 25 miles from the nearest interstate and about 60 miles from major cities like Columbus or Dayton. So the definition is is rural, but what does have the city does have kind of going for it, and same with the region is that we're near um Indian Lake, which is a 5,800 eight-acre lake um here in Ohio. So a lot of recreation and tourism. And then in the winter months, Matterer Mountain is only about 10 minutes outside of Bellfountain in Zanesfield. And so in the winter months, a lot of people ski and enjoy the winter activity. So tourism is a is a big part of our local economy. And and the other thing that's significant here is we we are an agricultural community and we really resonate with that heritage. But you know, about 30 years ago, 40 years ago, Honda um started building uh manufacturing motorcycles and cars. And so it manufacturing has really changed the DNA in this community too. So all those kind of unique economic cycles of up and down, and and probably in as you're listening about what makes Bellfoun unique, you're probably saying that sounds kind of similar to maybe where I a town that I grew up in or knew of as well.
Doug Jenkins:I'm proud to say that I've wiped out on both Indian Lake and Mad River Mountain, uh, and both uh jet skis and snowboards.
Speaker:And you live to tell the story, right?
Doug Jenkins:Yeah, well, the concussions of are telling the story anyway. Uh, but you've kind of set the groundwork so a lot of small towns have an industrial base, either there or nearby. They have the main street that had been maybe thriving once upon a time, and and maybe they're not there yet. And and and to your point, Bellfountain was uh it felt like a ghost town for uh for a while. And I remember one of the first projects I saw you guys working on was a place I remember playing paintball in the upstairs because that was about the only business they had, and it wasn't that good of a business. Um, the transformation has been great, but it doesn't just happen overnight. What does the groundwork look like in getting things running?
Speaker:Well, you're right, you know, 80% of the first floors of Bell Fountain 12 years ago were vacant and empty, and a lot of uh a lot of towns um things just changed. So Walmart was one in 1987 when Walmart came to Ohio, the first store in Ohio happened to be Bell Fountain. So that's right. You know, my my mom, she had a Hallmark shop on um in the downtown and on West Columbus Avenue. And so I remember my parents talking about, you know, pretty worried and concerned, how are they gonna compete with Walmart? And I I think there's different economic cycles like you see today, how Amazon is is also a huge opportunity to make money, but it's also challenging a lot of businesses in the way they think. So, you know, the the state of Bellfoun um was was pretty dark. But in a lot of towns, it just takes someone, you've got to start thinking about a vision. Like what, where do you want to take your town? What what what areas of focus do you want to make? And and for us, we we knew that if we could start to recruit a new business, that would bring walking traffic back to town. And as we studied like other towns and other neighborhoods that had been revitalized, there's certain business types that a lot of people find attractive. And and restaurants are one of them. Um and so we worked really hard to kind of study what the community was missing and um found an entrepreneur that was making incredible pizzas 45 minutes away that people would would drive uh a very long distance to eat and experience their pizzas. And um, that was kind of the first catalyst project is that that 600 downtown brick oven pizzeria, even though the town had 13 other pizza places, it was a unique special experience. When you when you come to 600, and that's kind of the criticism that people in the beginning sometimes face the the resistance of why would you go downtown? There is no parking, all those buildings are run down. And then when you suggested a pizza place, and there's already 13 other pizza places in the town, you know, I hear these stories told over and over, like a lot of you're gonna hear a lot of no's, you're gonna get a lot of criticism. But that early, those early days, when you come to 600 and experience a pizza, it starts baking at 600 degrees on that oven. The dough is made in-house daily. You have pizzas that are so unique on the menu, and I just got to share one example because I'm gonna make everyone really hungry. Is the Montana has a base of grilled ranch dressing, grilled chicken, mozzarella, bacon, and then kettle cooked potato chips on top. If you have not had a potato chip pizza made on a brick oven, you are not living life.
Doug Jenkins:Sounds like it's time for me to get home just to sample that. Uh, so I I want to kind of expand on this point, and then I want to talk a little bit about McComb because I know you you've talked a little bit um uh to some people in Macomb, and and we can kind of use that as the local example for Hancock County. But to your point about the restaurant, and I I feel like downtown Findlay, the catalyst for it developing was we got a cool place downtown for people to go. And then someone else said, you know, maybe we could do something like that. So they invested. Then you get a couple of cool places, then some offices, like, hey, I'd like to have my office right next to the place where everybody comes to gather, and then it just becomes a snowball effect, but it takes those first couple of places where people want to gather.
Speaker:It does. And also, I think the other thing is realizing that when you become a destination for something, if you get a critical mass of restaurants, of coffee shops, then your town starts to become known as that's a great place to grab lunch or dinner, or that's a great place to grab a cup of coffee. And I'll share with you we we run into a lot of resistance of if there already is a restaurant at town in town or a coffee shop in town, is when another restaurant or coffee shop opens up. There's a lot of fear that sometimes is associated with the owner that's been there for a long time. But a lot of the evidence and research that we have done is the exact opposite happens, is that that critical mass actually increases the volume of both businesses. And then, you know, it's that whole effect is that then you're known as a destination for something. And I think that's where a lot of towns struggle to get that momentum, is there's fear around competition, or there's fear around someone's going to take dollars out of my pocket when the exact opposite happens. And so that's kind of been the incremental development approach. You know, where we're at today, in Bellfountain, there's been 56 historic buildings that have been renovated, seven new restaurants that have been started, 34 upper four loft apartments, 20 plus specialty retail stores, and about $30 million in new private capital that has not taken advantage or used any government money, like historic tax credits or new market tax credits or public subsidies. So it's been somewhat of a unique process, but it's taken 12 years of incremental changes to do that.
Doug Jenkins:Yeah, the it the changes don't take place overnight. And to you said you're gonna hear the people say, Well, this will never work, you're gonna hear that. This will never work, this will never work, until suddenly there's so much evidence that they can keep saying it, but the it's apparent what's happening or what they're saying is not true. Let's bring it down to and I don't know how much you can talk about uh talk about Joe Watson and Macomb EDO over there. Uh, but I think Macomb's a great case for this. Macomb had had a bustling downtown with Bennett's furniture, but you know, everything changes over the years, and you know, the the internet happens, like you said, and and things change, but there's an opportunity to bring things back. Where uh what does it look like in an even smaller town like a Macomb or a Van Lu or an Arlington?
Speaker:You drive into Macomb and of course you see rolling fields of beautiful crops. You you see a small, quaint, historic downtown that has tremendous architecture and character. And I think the biggest surprise to me going to Macomb was actually meeting the people. Um, you know, they we hosted a potluck lunch where I got to like, you know, meet the people that were making the food and raising a lot of the products on their own gardens, their own farm. Like you can't replicate that kind of care and attention um and that welcoming feel anywhere else in the country until you drive to McComb, Ohio. And then the other thing is the historic building stock that is there is in is in really great shape. So you're right, the the furniture store of Bennett's that had been there for 30 plus years, and not only just occupying one building, Bennett's kept growing and expanding that their furniture gallery, the mattress stores, the the fabrics, the window treatments, the whole downtown was a destination that families and people would drive hours away here in Ohio to have the Bennett experience. But unfortunately, like a lot of business, Bennett's closed, which left a lot of these buildings empty. And I think the prime time is right now to rethink. You look at Findlay, and Findlay is one of the fastest growing and most successful metric micropolitans, you know, it's been been ranked, you can look at its rankings, very successful town. But there's not a lot of inventory sometimes that's available at an affordable price to have a major impact in some of those larger, more successful cities. So if a community like McComb is only 15 miles away, and now with the power of how we access our phones, you can see like connecting the right businesses with some digital marketing and being in that quaint neighborhood small town experience. I think McComb is very prime for lots of types of development opportunity. So, you know, what Joe and a lot of other investors and leaders are looking at in McColm is how can we be that special destination for Findlay, for Hancock County, for our region of the state and beyond. And I think it takes like what we've been doing here in Bellfoun. You've got to start to get that investment engine going again. So for the town itself, the the town, the local community within 15 miles around there, there's certain things Monday through Thursday they really need. A place to get a great cup of coffee, a place to get your hair cut or done, um, a shopping boutique to pick up a few items, maybe a small convenience store that sells local goods that are curated and made, maybe in people's homes, but it's a place for people to mercantile and sell those things. And I think that's going to be the early phase is you need to find those business types from Monday through Thursday. But on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, you can be a tourism town. And I think there's a lot of people that love to take day trips. And so thinking about McComb differently and knowing that for you know decades, people would travel there for an experience. I think it's a perfect town to create some type of retail or some type of museum or some type of day trip experience in McComb. The other thing, and this is a trivia trivia question for you. Do you know in McComb what is significant that gets manufactured there? The cookies. The cookie factories.
Doug Jenkins:Come on, man.
Speaker:And let me tell you, I can't show any pictures of my experience touring the cookie factory, but I can tell you that brands, national and international brands of every kind of cookie and cracker that we see in the store shelves every day is literally manufactured in Macomb, Ohio. But if you drive through the town, you do not know the DNA, the history, the story of the cookie factory. I think that's a huge opportunity to integrate those things.
Doug Jenkins:Absolutely. Let me pick your brain on this one just a little bit. And this is just kind of an idea rolling off the top of my head. So you're more than welcome to tell me if it's dumb or not. But I especially in smaller towns, there's such a connection to the school community, too. And let's just use Macoma as their case study. Macoma is a very proud football tradition. I feel like you can marry those two into that tourism thing. Hey, if you're a fan of high school football, come to Macoma on a Friday night, check out a game, you know, maybe have something to eat afterwards or beforehand, as long as there's that restaurant there or something like that, and you can draw on a new audience that way too.
Speaker:A hundred percent. It's like every community has its points of pride. And and I think you you don't want to be stuck in the middling many doing everything that everyone else is. And so a lot of times I talk about helping a community identify it's weird. You know, in Bellfountain, I joke with folks, but I lead kind of opening to saying we are the highest, we are the shortest, and we are the first. So trying to find some significant ways to talk about Maya Town to make that anchor and sink in people's heads. So geographically, even though Ohio is relatively flat, we are the highest geographic point in Ohio at Campbell Hill in Bellfoun. We also have um the world's shortest street, McKenley Street in Bellfountain, and also the first concrete street in America. And you may think concrete's boring, but it's not until I tell you about George Mark Bartholomew and how he mixed sand, clay, and marl in the late 1800s and invented concrete, and you get to walk or park your car on the same concrete street he created over a hundred plus years ago today. It's it's like taking those weird elements and branding it and marketing it and making it significant. But athletics, um, the arts, whatever your community has a point of pride, integrating that in the business community, integrating that in the culture is is an awesome way to really put your town on the map. The bottom line is that small towns are not dead. No, and in fact, I think small towns build great things, and they're uh especially now than ever, with um the resourcing of manufacturing and also you know, throughout the country, a lot of people. People are looking to the Midwest because of our abundance of water. Um, they're looking to the Midwest because of the number of universities that we have here. They're looking to Midwest and even further Ohio because of the affordability that we have. And a lot of people are thinking now that they're coming out of COVID, you know, 20. There's a recent study in the American Business Journals that highlighted that 22% of people are able to work in a remote work um situation. So that means a lot of different things, but it means that you don't typically have to report to an office 40 hours a week from a from a nine to five. And so that's giving people the freedom and flexibility to ask the question to say, where can I truly live a healthy quality life based on my goals and plans? And if I've got um a great place that's got um co-working, that I can get good internet, and there's a great place that's got a good place to get a cup of coffee that I enjoy or a craft beer, it starts to be about the amenities and experiences that your community can provide and not necessarily the big city skyscrapers that are congested and traffic and a lot of things that are really big drawbacks in major markets today.
Doug Jenkins:Jason, I thank you for your time today. I went probably way over what I uh had done, but I always love talking to you and getting your thoughts on these things. If people want to learn more about Small Nation, what's happening in Bellfountain, uh, and maybe how they can get their small community involved, what's the best way to get in touch with you?
Speaker:Well, we our website is smallnationstrong.com. And we also have the Small Nation Podcast, which is available on Apple Podcasts and all the places that you find your podcast, along with YouTube. But um I've really enjoyed, you know, being on the show today. And I hope everyone, if you are interested in small town revitalization, small business, entrepreneurship, we'd love to have you join us on the podcast. All right, Jason. Thanks for joining us. Thanks, Doug.
Doug Jenkins:Big thanks to Jason for joining us today. Believe me when I say small communities are near and dear to my heart because in the end, I'm still just a kid from Huntsville. It's great seeing a company put the effort and resources into restoring small towns to their former glory or even really helping them find new identities to thrive as we move into the future. That'll do it for this week's episode. I hope you learned a little something to help run your business a little bit better, get some ideas from that. If you have any ideas for topics that we should cover on future episodes, just send me an email, djenkins at finlayhancockchamber.com is the best way to get in touch with me. Remember, if you're listening on the chamber's website, you can make it even more convenient on yourself. Have each and every episode of Chamber Amplified delivered straight to your phone. Just search for us in your favorite podcast player. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you next time on Chamber Amplified from the Finlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce.
