Local Economy Impact
Your Progress, Our Purpose
GIDA works for the community. Here are a few initiatives and highlights from the past year:
Placemaking
Success Story: Golden Isles Mattress
Golden Isles Mattress, female-owned and operated by Lauren Sobala, has been a local business operating for approximately 7 years in Glynn County.
Problem:
Business at Golden Isles Mattress is booming, leading to expansion to a new location. To ensure safety and appeal, the new site needed proper lighting, clear signage, and exterior enhancements. These improvements enhanced customer visibility, create a welcoming atmosphere, and support the store’s continued growth and success.
Solution:
Enhance safety and visibility at our new location by installing adequate lighting, clear signage, and improving the façade.
Results:
The exterior of the new facility’s aesthetics increases safety and the business’s attractiveness and/or competitiveness. Golden Isles Mattress was approved to receive $10,000 through our Share the Future grant and allocated to a new exterior sign.
Signage reflects a business’s authority and expertise, and its quality can either attract customers or turn them away. I would not have been able to make this purchase without the help of the Golden Isles Development Authority.
Lauren Sobala, Golden Isles Mattress
Embracing Accountability
The focus of GIDA’s expansion efforts is to support and grow the local economy. It is vital to the success of everyone in Glynn County. GIDA is committed to investing in the future of Glynn County.
Keeping it Local
The team at GIDA are champions of the local and small business community. Not only do we want our entrepreneurs and main street businesses to succeed, but we recognize the benefits shopping local has for our community. For every dollar spent at a small business in the U.S., approximately 67 cents stay in the local community. We strive to purchase local as much as possible to support our business community.
Our Spending
$60,000 of our budget expenditures went to local businesses through our Share the Future Initiative. At least 65% of our controllable spending was with local businesses. Everything from engineering work for clients, print material, or office supplies – GIDA thinks, and spends, local first.
Funding Sources
Funding Uses
Total Wages & Household Income
Business growth fuels economic prosperity in Glynn County.
The attraction and expansion of businesses have a ripple effect on the overall economic well-being of a community. GIDA pays close attention to how Glynn County is trending in wages, employment, Gross Domestic Product, number of private establishments (establishments that produce a good or service), and our industrial sector’s overall value. The charts below illustrate the growth for the most current years available.
Total Wages
Values represent millions of dollars (e.g., 461 = $461M)
Average annual wages per worker increased 2.7% in the region over the preceding four quarters.
Median Household Income
Values represent dollars (e.g., 52977 = $52,977)
The wage increase has had a positive impact on the median household income, which has increased by 20% between 2019 and 2022.
Private Establishments for All Industries
In the past four years, the number of private establishments (establishments that produce a good or service) in Glynn County has grown significantly from 2,677 in 2020 to 3,320 in 2023. This is a 24% increase in private establishments operating in the Golden Isles over the past four years.
Gross Domestic Product Growth
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the total value of goods and services produced by a region. In 2022, nominal GDP in Glynn County, Georgia, expanded by 9.4%. As of 2022, the total GDP in Glynn County, Georgia, was $5.28 billion.