NARROWS, Va. – After looking for an outdoor recreation business in the Town of Narrows, leaders have found on, but it hasn’t been the easiest start.
“When we came up here, it felt like home,” said Kaci Spain and Jonathan Taylor, owners of Otters Way Outdoors. “It grew on us so quick. It was like the moss on the north side of the tree.”
Over the past year, leaders in the Town of Narrows have been working to revitalize their main street.
In June, they advertised for a business to be able to use the river and sell outdoor retail items for their growing recreation.
“They wanted to specifically look at the creeks and river here and figure out a way to open that up to more people than just the people that live here,” Taylor said.
They found this with Otters Way Outdoors, where folks can rent a tube to float on the river or pick up some essentials for enjoying the wilderness.
But since their soft opening, business has been tough.
“We literally quit our jobs, and used our 401ks to bootstrap it and we came up dry about a month ago,” Taylor and Spain said.
I talked to the tourism director for Giles County about businesses in rural areas, like Narrows, and she said it can take time for a business and the community to meld.
“It’s all about finding ways to support and encourage that discovery what their business is going to look like, and then how best to make it land and thrive in a small community,” Cora Gnegy said.
She said Giles County is in a unique spot where there are larger populations surrounding the county, and it’s figuring out how to tap into those markets.
“It’s just a matter of making sure they know that all of our towns have these great little businesses, they have excitement and energy, and they are open to come and spend some money and enjoy as well,” Gnegy said.
For the owners of Otters Way Outdoors, they say they want to see Narrows be successful, so they are going to stay positive and keep pushing on.