Jim Quinlan

At what point did you realize that you’d be purchasing an entire shopping center versus a couple of buildings?

Well, we started out with it combined—Jax Outdoor Gear and Jax Farm & Home in one building, and it was just packed. We couldn’t really do justice for either category. We were just putting too much stuff in too small of a space. So once we started with the one store, and we got on solid ground with that, it was clear we needed more space to do the farm store and to do it well. So we started looking around to see our options, and the Plaza Lafayette, as it was called then, was clearly the best choice. We went into it for just the space, but it had the shopping center attached, so it came with the deal. I didn’t plan to get into a shopping center.

You’ve been so successful in business. Do you have a mantra or philosophy that guides you? 

Well…boy….work hard and do the right thing. That’s about it for me. It’s pretty basic.

Why did you go with independent shops as opposed to chain stores for the Lafayette Marketplace?

I personally prefer to have small, locally owned businesses. It’s great to have an eclectic mix, and no one is going to work harder than small business owners. That’s what I went out to find, and we had all this empty space. We could offer lower rental rates than what the average is in the area, so that helped. We are full now, but everyone is still working to get enough business I would say. It’s gonna take some time, but we are on the right road. I’m thrilled with how it’s coming together. We had the farmer’s market this last spring, and we’ll have it this upcoming spring. We have holiday markets in the atrium right now. I think we are doing a lot of positive things. We just have to get the word out that we are here.

The farmer’s market has been a great addition to Lafayette. Any other bells and whistles we can expect to see?

The area out back where we have the farmer’s market, I’m hoping that come spring we can put together a music venue and have weekly concerts.

We have a fire ring and pavilion, so it’s a great spot for music events.

How’s the feedback been?

It’s been good, but I think a lot of people just don’t know we are here. We are still getting people to recognize that we have a lot of great little businesses. That’s our biggest challenge.