New arrivals, population growth ignite desire for many to junk old jobs or open own stores

As the local population boomed in 2005, newcomers to Tucson were embarking upon their own 21st-century gold rush by starting their own businesses.
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Whether drawn by the desert climate or the relatively low-cost of living, many of the city's newest residents often became its newest merchants - often as sole proprietors or owners of microbusinesses with fewer than 10 employees.

"Quite a few retirees come in and they start up consulting businesses," said Pat Patton, chief economist at Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities Inc., or TREO.

Others, he added, attempt to continue with whatever type of business they owned in their prior hometown.

Then there are those like Jillian Colburn and Bill Kouba, formerly of Sacramento, Calif., who used their move as the opportunity to begin a new life in business.

"We had actually been looking for an opportunity to work together for some time. We just got serious about it when we moved to Tucson," Colburn said.

For almost a decade, Colburn had worked in the restaurant industry and he had been employed as a restaurant catering manager prior to the move. Kouba was selling high-end motor homes, and for a period after moving to Tucson in 2003, he remained in the same line of work.

In November 2004 they opened the KaBloom flower shop at 3225 N. Swan Road, next to Bashas' supermarket. It's the only local store of the Boston-based franchise.

Colburn attributed their decision to open the business in the neighborhood just south of the Rillito River to the strong growth and construction happening in the area. The couple actually live in Vail.

"When we decided to open this franchise, we felt that Tucson could handle another florist without it impeding others," she said. "The population growth is a huge issue. It impacts everyone."

With five part-time and three full-time employees including Kouba and Colburn, KaBloom didn't make this year's Star 200 list of employers. But in a few years, who knows?

As the number of residents grows, Colburn anticipates hiring more staff to meet the demands of an increasing client base. A second store may follow.

KaBloom was one of more than 5,000 business licenses issued by the city of Tucson in 2004. Last year the city issued 4,685 new business privilege licenses, bringing the total number of active licenses to 349,237.

The city doesn't distinguish between the licenses issued for temporary businesses such as the street vendors that appear on holidays like Valentine's Day. But the raw numbers are enough to hint that the proliferation of Tucson-area businesses remains constant, fueled by a steady stream of newcomers.

Tracking the number of those who later start a business remains a challenge for economic development officials.

"A lot of those businesses are fairly quiet and not necessarily advertising. A lot of them are flying under the radar," said Laura Shaw, TREO's vice president of marketing and investor relations.

In September, the U.S. Census Bureau named Arizona second in the nation for growth of nonemployer businesses, or those without paid employees. Of the 316,351 the bureau counted, many of those fell into the category Shaw described - self-employed individuals who frequently run their business from their home.

In 2004, when Bob Kittredge moved to the Old Pueblo from Auburn, Calif., to start Granite Transformations at 1141 W. Grant Road, his wife, Chris, remained behind. She continued running her professional photography business, but after a year and a half apart, she packed up the couple's things and made the move herself.

Having been a photographer for 35 years, she has no intention of quitting now that she's here.

"I've always had my own business," Kittredge said. "I knew that I would just start afresh here. & It's a little bit more of a challenge. I'm learning how to shoot with cactus."

Though she lives on the East Side, her business takes her all over the city and she spends much of her week traveling from meetings with one client to another.

Kittredge is similar to KaBloom's Colburn in that she believes Tucson's population is large enough to sustain her business in spite of the competition. Neither is alone in sharing this optimism.

Last year, both Entrepreneur and Fast Company magazines devoted space to honoring Tucson for its potential for business growth in their fall issues. The perspective for 2006 looks to be more of the same.

In February, the California (Illinois)-based payroll service, SurePayroll, released its annual list of the "Top Ten States for Small Businesses." Arizona came in ninth.

Copyright © 2006. Arizona Daily Star.