Chamber Holiday Breakfast at Chick-fil-A Offers Time To Reflect on Brandon's Business Outlook

Patricia Magruder has been a part of the Greater Brandon business community for 21 years and what she sees today gives her cause for concern, but also hope for the prospects of a refreshed and more relevant local economy, which she found even more evident at today's holiday breakfast for chamber members.

Hosted by Tammy and Paul Holmberg, at their in Lake Brandon Village, the breakfast drew membership from both the Greater Brandon Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Riverview Chamber of Commerce.

And the number of attendees, and their spirits, are what further buoyed the hopes of Magruder, a former honorary mayor of Brandon and owner of the Magruder Insurance company on Lumsden Road.

"I'm a realist," Magruder said. "I understand everything has a cycle but (today's economic downturn) is very hard on so many business owners."

In these shifting times, Magruder added, when so many business plans are not viable anymore, the key is to be able to step out in a new direction. "Business owners have developed a lot of skills, even if their present businesses have to fail," she said. "But they can recreate another business using the skills and talents they have honed over the years."

"I'm just very hopeful," she said. "I think there's more confidence now."

Magruder said she's like to see "at least some small growth or at least some stability set in."

Gone are the glory days of Brandon's boom and Magruder doesn't see those heady days returning any time soon — if ever. "There's been some up's and down's in Brandon but never this drastic," she said. "I've never seen so many people out of work or people closing their businesses or seeking alternative (sources of income)."

From the time she started her business in Brandon, to about 2006 or 2007, "everything in Brandon was easy," Magruder said. "You got instant results from any of your marketing. Sales were sometimes effortless. You could start a business and be certain that you could at least make a living, if not get rich."

But then came the housing crisis and a whole set of economic-distress triggers.

"I don't know if it will ever get back to that way it was but we'll be resourceful," Magruder said. "I'm very hopeful it will turn over. America is a country of very creative and industrious people who find a way to succeed and Brandon is right in there with them."

People like Tammy and Paul Holmberg, the owners of the Lake Brandon Village Chick-fil-A, help to sustain Magruder's belief of eventual economic recovery.

"They're working to stay connected, and they are," Magruder said. "They're working to be involved with the community, and they are. They never gave up and they help us find our way."

Tammy Holmberg said that sentiment is what encouraged her this year to host a morning breakfast to give out Chick-fil-A calendars with coupons instead of, as in years past, going out to area businesses for a one- on-one holiday greeting.

"In tough times I wanted to show and say, 'We still can get through this and celebrate and go for what's next," Holmberg said. "What I have flows through me. God's blessed me. If I keep it all to myself that wouldn't be right."