APPLETON, Wis. — Ask Kyle Jones his job title at the newly opened General Store and he’ll give you a one-word answer: “cashier.”
The reality is he’s the owner, but cashier is also one of his jobs. Jones opened General Store in downtown Appleton in early April.
“We offer the items that aren’t readily or easily available at our local grocery stores,” he said. “We also encourage you to cook things from scratch, so we have the discussion factor you don’t get at other grocery stores.”
Jones operated a candle store in the same space at 215 W. College Avenue but transitioned to something unique for the city’s downtown. The store carries things like biscotti, olive oil and anchovie paste.
“I’ll mop. I’ll sweep. I will vacuum. I will dust. I will stock. I will tag. I will check out our guests when they’re ready to leave. I’ll make espresso and do all the things,” Jones said about his role as a business owner. “It’s always a new adventure every day. New people. New discussions.”
Becky Bartoszek of the Fox Cities Chamber said they’re seeing an uptick in the number of small businesses opening in the three counties they support.
One of the factors that she said contributed to this is the pandemic.
“There has been a huge surge in small businesses popping up. Not only here in the Fox Valley but across the country,” Bartoszek said. “During COVID, people had to reinvent their lives. A lot of people when they were locked at home decided this would be a great time to look into starting a small business or creating that product I always thought there was a need for.”
The chamber launched a program called “Free Connect” two years ago to help some of the smallest businesses access its services for free.
“Whether it’s small business consulting or networking, it’s everything we could put together to help that small business make it through that first year and grow and grow and grow,” Bartoszek said.
A surge in small businesses isn’t unprecedented. There was a similar bump following the recession in 2008.
Amy Pietsch of the Venture Center at Fox Valley Technical College said this time it’s more robust.
“It’s a little more intense this time around,” Pietsch said. “More people are pursuing entrepreneurship than that previous uptick that happened after the last recession.”
Where does Jones want General Store to be in the next 11 months?
“I want it to be the place people can talk about and say, ‘Isn’t that the place where the one guy — I don’t know if he’s the owner or the cashier or what he is — but he’s always there?’” he said. “‘He talks about food. Let’s go there.’”