Feb. 23, 2023

This paid piece is sponsored by Sioux Metro Growth Alliance.

It would have been understandable had Twin Cities native Christiana Ostrem experienced a bit of culture shock moving to Centerville, estimated population 918.

Instead, while it took some adjusting not being surrounded by people and within a fast drive of commercial centers, “I love it,” said Ostrem, who moved to the Turner County community in 2009.

“I just enjoy the quiet, and I love being in a small town where everyone knows you and your family, and the support is incredible. I wouldn’t go back, that’s for sure.”

She and her husband, Greg, who grew up in the area, are farmers who also own The Seed Coffeehouse & Eatery and helped form a church in the community.

Centerville “has responded really well” to both, she said.

Business owner Christen Cunningham has felt that support as well. The longtime interior designer has generations of family ties to the community and started Chic Boutique by Christsen & Company out of daughter Carly’s downtown salon. It took off so much that “pretty soon I was choking her out of her own salon,” Cunningham said.

“People were coming on Saturdays when she was trying to do hair.”

She purchased a larger building and opened there Black Friday 2021.

“It’s fantastic,” Cunningham said. “I have women coming from Sioux Falls, Yankton, all the surrounding area. I think boutique shopping and small-town shopping was really enhanced when everything shut down and people wanted to come back and support local.”

For Centerville, the past few years have been moving in a positive direction, said Jared Hybertson, who holds multiple community and economic development roles, including executive director of the Centerville Development Corporation and president of the Centerville Chamber of Commerce.

“We’ve seen a lot of alumni moving back, and even interest from out-of-staters wanting to move,” he said. “We’ve had a few families from Washington state move in and buy a house sight unseen because they want to get to South Dakota and found us online looking for housing. We’re lucky to have one or two homes on the market, and they go fast, so we know there’s demand.”

The community “is really building up an entrepreneurial ecosystem and has seen a lot of good new businesses pop up,” he said. “We’ve assisted with financing or finding a building, and the trickle down has been tremendous.”

In addition to the town’s iconic Royal Bake Shop, home of the original Zebra Donut and now known as Ellis Donuts, there’s now Maria’s Mexican Restaurant and the community’s first tattoo shop.

“You walk into these renovated historic buildings, and you feel like it could belong in downtown Sioux Falls or downtown Minneapolis,” Hybertson said. “It’s great.”

The businesses themselves are carving their own niches. On Broadway Street, the community’s main downtown street, places such as The Seed have generated a lot of engagement.

“We are a nonprofit coffee shop because our whole point was to be a gathering place for the community,” Ostrem said. “It took awhile for people to get used to the idea because before we only had gas station coffee, but it has taken off so well in so many ways. We have a big breakfast and lunch crowd. A lot of seniors gather here on a daily basis. We have Bible studies that have met here and a really excellent group of people that shows up.”

The coffee shop serves Rainy Day Coffee, locally roasted in Hudson, and employs a chef who bakes on-site and creates frequently changing specials.

“He does amazing things,” Ostrem said, adding the next goal is to expand the kitchen.

The church, The Seed Community Church, also has drawn support from the community.

“We have an average of 50 or 60 a week that are consistent people, and a lot of the attendees aren’t originally from Centerville but have moved to the area in the last decades, and it’s a really wide range of young families, boomers and even seniors, so it’s a really healthy dynamic, and it’s been fun to see who has come,” Ostrem said.

Cunningham also takes an inclusive approach at her boutique, offering more than 70 styles of jeans for all ages and sizes, and a wide variety of apparel.

“I try to be all-size inclusive where I can,” she said. “I think my niche is excellent customer service. I want people to feel better when they leave than when they came in.”

The store also hosts private shopping parties and offers products such as liquid collagen and supplements, plus an “inspiration corner” with gift items.

“I’m really creative with how I merchandise,” Cunningham said. “When people come in for the first time, they’re a little overwhelmed, but they stay a long time and go around.”

Centerville recently became the 16th member of Sioux Metro Growth Alliance and the first in Turner County.

“I think it made sense for our next steps of growth to connect to those resources,” Hybertson said. “It could lead to capital for growth and a different market for public relations to introduce people in the Sioux Falls area who don’t know what Centerville is to what we have to offer, so the connections are something I’m most excited about.”

Centerville “is a good example of a rural community with visionary leadership that has empowered it to take control of its development,” SMGA president and CEO Jesse Fonkert said. “We’re privileged to be part of their next chapter of economic development and see steady growth on their horizon.”

In addition to Centerville, the Sioux Metro Growth Alliance hopes to work with other communities in Turner County to expand its services there. If enough parties from the public and private sector are interested in membership, SMGA would be able to hire a staff person solely devoted to economic development in Turner County.

“There’s a lot of opportunity to help build community here, and we’re excited to help continue the momentum many in the county are experiencing,” Fonkert said.

Learn more about Centerville in the SMGA podcast “Growing Places” here.

For Centerville, next steps include a major new housing development. Called Harvest Pointe, it’s a 14-acre property on the southwest side of town with 22 lots. Four are planned as multifamily town homes and the rest as single-family homes with lots from one-third to three-quarters of an acre.

“They range from $30,000 to $50,000, so we’re comparable to housing developments in our size communities,” Hybertson said. “We have nice-size lots, and we’ve got a little green space area set aside. But everything is close in Centerville, so you’re a mile or less from schools and parks and the pool, and you’re four blocks from downtown.”

The Centerville Development Corporation owns and is developing the land and is hoping to be awarded some of the state’s available infrastructure funds to support the housing need, in addition to an economic development loan through Dakota Resources.

“We’ve got good partners in the mix, but we’re taking the risk for the community, and we think it’s a good thing,” Hybertson said.

The plan is to break ground as soon as possible, with infrastructure work completed by August, so homes can start construction yet this year.

For Cunningham, the future could include the upstairs of her building — a former 12-room hotel that she hasn’t decided how to utilize.

“I feel like in Centerville the younger demographic, like my daughter’s age, has really started taking ownership and getting involved. But I also think we are putting emphasis on growing our town and making it important to be part of this community,” she said. “We’re trying to bring back that Main Street where we’ve now got a bakery, post office, grocery store, clinic and some actual shopping. We have something really special here in our community.”

The community is friendly toward entrepreneurs, Ostrem said.

“I would love to see people in town take their passions and run with it,” she said. “I think Centerville has a lot to offer with its location between three good-sized cities, and it would be fun to see more entrepreneurs come in and try their hand at another kind of restaurant or health care or wellness. I think the sky is the limit, and people are prepared to support it any way they can.”

Get a taste of Centerville

Want to check out this growing community for yourself? March means the annual Restaurant Rumble in Centerville, where participating restaurants create dishes and diners vote for their favorites. To learn more, follow this Facebook page.