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Cotton Creek tells Reynolds plans to move across street
by Gregory R. Norfleet · News · May 12, 2016
Calling it “one of the best parts of my job,” Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds visited two small businesses in West Branch May 5.
Reynolds planned to only visit Cotton Creek Mill quilt shop, but also took time to go next door to It’s New Once Again, a home decor and furniture refurbishing store, in a three-day state tour to mark Small Business Week.
Main Street West Branch Director Kevin Rogers suggested Reynolds visit Cotton Creek, owned by mother-daughter team Tami Urmie and Tara Langley, because the two plan to move to a larger location and Langley recently received a volunteer award from Main Street Iowa.
Reynolds asked about how the two got into the business, what prompted the plan to expand and details about what the shop offers to customers.
Urmie said Cotton Creek wants to sell sewing machines, which would be new, and to host classes in their location, which is an expansion of what they do now. They also would like to expand their variety of fabrics.
“We can’t grow here,” she said of their current location at 108 West Main Street.
Cotton Creek plans to move across the street to a building that served as a restaurant and, most recently, housed West Branch Treasures, at 113 West Main.
Urmie said they want to “gut” the new location and take out the centerpiece grill that served the restaurants, with a plan to move in “before the snow flies.”
Urmie’s interest in opening her own business focusing on her passion and Langley’s story of a degree in marketing yet a desire for a non-corporate atmosphere came together in Cotton Creek, they told the lieutenant governor.
“I love your passion,” Reynolds said. “What a phenomenal story.”
The lieutenant governor asked about some of the obstacles or challenges to running a small business.
“You strike me as the type who knocks those down with a running force,” she added.
Urmie’s response: tax forms.
“There are so many forms,” Urmie said, learning that the state first wants the tax forms, then wants the money. She was doing it the other way around, assuming the state wanted the tax money first.
Yet Urmie said the biggest hurdle was bookkeeping and figuring out what their clients wanted.
Reynolds next visited It’s New Once Again, chatting with owner Donna Zender about the store’s offerings.
Also welcoming Reynolds to town were Mayor Roger Laughlin, Community State Bank’s Ed Larew, Staker Chiopractic owner and MSWB President Shane Staker, and Rogers.
Reynolds also took time to ask questions about the local MSWB program, and to congratulate Springville resident Rachel Richards, who was in West Branch at the same time to receive a national volunteer award for helping out at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library-Museum.
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