Episode 73 // Daric and Jill O'Neal of JMercantile and Alley Poyner Macchietto Architecture

Written By Danna Larson

This week we’re featuring the town of Red Oak, Iowa (pop. 5,415) and sharing some of the stories of rural revival happening here! With five retail stores opening up in the past year in and around their historic downtown square and a growing arts scene, plus some incredible historic home renovations, facade improvements, and efforts to welcome even more entrepreneurs, Red Oak is quickly becoming one of Iowa’s hottest destinations — and a great place to work, play, and live. We'll be sharing stories throughout the week from local business owners who are making an impact in the community.

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We’re in Red Oak, Iowa (pop. 5,415) this week on the podcast with Daric and Jill O’Neal of JMercantile and Alley Poyner Macchietto Architecture. We’re talking all things community revitalization and development - including expanding Daric’s architecture company from the city to a small town, and Jill getting to bring her dream of a design and home decor shop to life, from a pop up to a storefront and now even more. Now they’re making a space for future entrepreneurs to be able to explore their dreams and are focused on making the most of their town’s potential.

If you see the potential in your small town but aren’t sure where to go next or even where to start, you are going to get so much out of this episode! You’ll love how Daric and Jill’s heart for small towns and properties eventually led them back to Daric’s hometown, and how they are all in on their community’s revitalization and their dreams for a thriving future there — and having a lot of fun along the way. You will absolutely want to check out the show notes and be sure to follow along with Daric and Jill as they continue to help bring rural revival to Red Oak.

Listen right here or on these platforms: APPLE | GOOGLE | SPOTIFY | STITCHER

We are continually dreaming of, what can we do next? What does our town need? What does our town want? What can we do for the people of this community to keep it moving forward? Because we see the potential. There is so much potential and there are great things happening in rural America. And Red Oak is just a tiny little facet of that. But we love our town. We are its biggest cheerleaders and we’re always dreaming of the next steps.

— Jill O'Neal

I feel very fortunate that I had the opportunity to pursue my dream of design and home decorating. I have dreamt of this for many, many years. And finally in 2016 I established J. Mercantile.

— Jill O'Neal

I want to make sure every community has equal access to design and thoughtful conversation on how to make it work for them.

— Daric O'Neal

“The Money Pit”

Danna Larson
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Welcome to Red Oak, Iowa
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Episode 72 // Adam and Dayna Kocinski of French Press Coffee