Founded in 1976, Furniture Mart USA has grown from a single location in Sioux Falls to a family of brands with 59 stores in 35 communities across six-states. The groundbreaking ceremony marks construction on a $25 million, 300,000 square foot addition to their distribution center and corporate headquarters in Sioux Falls. In addition to relocating the existing retail clearance center, the project includes a new 40,000 square foot Furniture Mart and 40,000 square foot Ashley HomeStore with improved customer conveniences.
This family owned and operated business, leads by example supporting the community by providing jobs, 380 in Sioux Falls and 1250+ company-wide, and through charitable giving. In recent years, the company has provided over $1,000,000 to 70-plus organizations in the region
Terrie Christensen and her husband, Alan, found their new Sioux Falls home thanks to family and a video call.
“We bought this house sight unseen,” Terrie Christensen said.
“We knew the housing market was tight, and his niece was a big help. We bought a house in her neighborhood, and we did the whole video thing, which worked very well. So we wrote the offer and had it submitted, and we were one of five, but ours got accepted.”
That was in September 2020, after the Christensens had decided to move from Wisconsin to be closer to Alan’s family.
While he’s retired, Terrie is beginning a job search in Sioux Falls as she winds down her role as an office manager for a structural steel fabricator in Wisconsin. With experience in accounting and human resources and a background in consulting, in addition to overall office management, she already has seen opportunities in Sioux Falls.
“I’m a point where I don’t have to work, but I want to work, and that makes the job search a little different,” she said.
“I decided it was time to start putting feelers out there, so I put my information on Indeed and updated LinkedIn, and I had a phone interview a few days later and a couple other responses, so I’m not worried about finding something. There’s a lot I could do.”
The Christensens’ situation is similar to many at or near retirement who are relocating to Sioux Falls, said Denise Guzzetta, vice president of talent and workforce development for the Sioux Falls Development Foundation.
“Sioux Falls is consistently ranked among the top places in the nation to retire, and we see many seniors moving here to take advantage of that,” she said.
“At the same time, you definitely do not have to retire once you arrive. Terrie will discover, like many others have, that there are so many job opportunities whether you’re looking for an encore career, a part-time role or even a rewarding chance to volunteer.”
In 2020, Forbes ranked Sioux Falls among the top 25 cities for retirees after comparing data on 750 cities and looking at factors such as cost of living and health care facilities. The city got high marks for the number of physicians, good air quality and no state income tax.
“Not only are you moving to a safe community with short commutes and many housing options, but the medical care is second to none, and the factors such as our parks and downtown are as appealing to seniors as any other generation,” Guzzetta said.
That has been the case for the Christensens. While they had visited family in Sioux Falls before moving, they’re just now getting a firsthand look at life in the city.
“We’re in a really nice neighborhood in southwest Sioux Falls that’s five minutes off the interstate, so you can get anywhere in 15 minutes. They did a good job laying out a whole loop around Sioux Falls,” she said.
Watching the news is “so boring,” she joked.
“There’s not four or five shootings and robbers and people running from the cops. All they talk about is the coronavirus.”
Growing up in Iowa, she compares Sioux Falls to the kind of place she was used to – large enough to offer a lot without being overwhelming.
“It has everything we need,” she said. “Top medical facilities in the nation, and we’re kind of foodies, so we like to go out to eat, and we like the trendy microbreweries and wineries. We hung out downtown, and it’s very nice. I would say it’s very comparable to the Milwaukee area, just with semipro instead of pro sports.”
Other seniors have shared similar impressions, Guzzetta said.
“They also find it’s easy to become connected and make new friends here,” she said. “It’s a very neighborly place, there are so many organizations you can join, and you’ll quickly feel part of the community. We encourage anyone of any age considering a move to reach out to us so we can offer all the resources available to you.”
With more than 1,300 employees, the city of Sioux Falls ranks among the largest employers in the community.
And the organization, like many, is striving to be an employer of choice.
“We need to be looking at culture and engagement in the same way the private sector does to stay competitive and also to be a role model in the community,” said Rana DeBoer, the chief culture officer for the city of Sioux Falls.
“Everyone wants to be a part of something that’s bigger than themselves; that’s what makes work great. Organizations with a positive workplace culture are shown to have engaged employees who feel respected and valued.”
A big key to that is mentoring. The city recently started an employee mentoring program called The Path focused on providing support for career and personal development.
“Our approach to this program will allow employees to learn from and support each other, and the program is wide-reaching,” Mayor Paul TenHaken said.
“For example, new employees will be matched with a mentor, newly promoted leaders will have the same from a peer mentor, and our leadership development programs always include a mentor match. We have seen a great response already from employees and are in the process of launching our first mentorship cohort.”
The hope is to instill a “mentoring mindset,” in the city’s culture, he said.
“It’s the right approach to communicating and collaborating effectively with our residents. And when that happens, we are able to best help create a high quality of life with our residents. So we just keep fostering it in our daily work while holding ourselves accountable to it through our core values and impactful programming like The Path.”
And the city is measuring its success, TenHaken said.
Employee engagement scores as tracked digitally have shown steady improvement and are at a high of 8.1 out of 10.
“We’ve also seen our nonretirement retention rate improve. We are right in the middle of some heavy work on recruitment and establishing our brand as an employer to find and hire the right people for the work of public service,” he said.
Mayor TenHaken will share a look at the city’s approach to mentoring, both internally and in the community, at the June 22 Recruitment Council Networking Lunch organized by the Sioux Falls Development Foundation from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Washington Pavilion.
Workforce 101: Learning How Mentoring Enables Talent Development and Retention is open to any business leader focused on workforce development.
“We’re very excited to welcome Mayor TenHaken and allow him to share more about the critical role mentoring plays as it relates to talent,” said Denise Guzzetta, vice president of talent and workforce development for the Sioux Falls Development Foundation.
“The city is a national leader in this regard, and so much potential still exists.”
The mayor will detail his Sioux 52 Mentoring Initiative at the event, which he said offers myriad benefits for business leaders.
“We are actively asking companies to embrace mentoring and motivate employees to participate through benefits like paid volunteer time off, which we have modeled the way by implementing at the city,” he said.
“And we’ve seen a great response from the community in stepping forward to make this commitment.”
In 2020, more than 250 individuals signed up to mentor, 30 businesses signed on to be business partners who are creating a culture of mentoring in service to the community, and 27 organization that administer mentoring programs joined the Sioux 52 Mentoring Initiative movement.
“We look forward to continuing the momentum we’re seeing around mentorship, especially going into the fall, which is a kickoff to many mentorship programs,” he said.
The pandemic has further shown the importance of culture and how important the leader’s role is in that, DeBoer added.
“We’ve been increasing the role of our leaders to be good coaches and mentors to strengthen relationships and foster high levels of trust,” she said. “We’ve always had a focus on employee well-being and especially so this past year. We’ve fine-tuned our well-being offerings and are ramping up on mental, physical and community well-being. We need to take care of each other; public service is hard work, and it’s critical we take care of our people at the same intensity we take care of service performance.”
Augustana broke ground on an $50 million housing plan focused on new and enhanced facilities to meet the needs of the growing number of students on campus.
The largest portion of the plan includes a new residence hall on the south end of Augustana’s north campus near 33rd Street and Grange Avenue. The L-shaped building will be three stories high and house up to 200 students. The facility will consist of semi-suites with four beds and a bathroom in each unit. Two of the university’s existing residence halls — Bergsaker and Solberg —will also see upgrades.
The new residence hall, the south courtyard and renovations to Bergsaker Hall are expected to be completed by the fall of 2022. Renovations to Solberg Hall will be finished when students return in fall 2023.
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