It’s hard to say how Bartow County is doing economically as signs land both ways on whether it’s good or bad. Plus, none of the cities nor Bartow County appear to have numbers to support the idea that more businesses are starting up or relocating here.
The county’s economic condition came into focus recently as Chemical Products, a long-standing industry in Cartersville, announced it would shutter its doors in June. That will leave 120 workers looking for new jobs.
Other industries, like Toyo Tire and Amazon, are advertising for workers. Indeed.com states that Amazon has at least 35 jobs available.
Meanwhile, the area has seen several smaller restaurants shut down over the past year but other independent restaurants have opened. Most of the closures were new restaurants, like Country Gold and Kabob Delight, that were open less than two years ago. The Allatoona Dam Food Truck Park, which had grown to be a place for local residents to hang out and try new foods, closed.
New restaurants include Rooster Shack, Bklyn’s Finest, Deliwich, and Kamat Biryani House. Adams Barbecue was sold to a new owner who is opening a Korean barbecue restaurant next week.
One puzzling aspect of local economic development is a series of newly constructed warehouses on Highway 293 headed to Emerson. They currently all sit empty with for sale signs in front of them but otherwise look deserted with no activity.
Equally noticeable are subdivisions with homes on small tracts of land of .5 acres or less popping up throughout the county. Those include a subdivision off Adams Chapel Road and ongoing construction on former farmland off of Euharlee Road just past the elementary and middle schools.
The Cartersville-Bartow County Economic Development Department doesn’t keep numbers of incoming and outgoing business licenses with officials saying that is left up to every city. Adairsville lists around 370 business licenses for 2024 but those include renewals as well as upstart businesses, along with alcohol and malt beverage licenses.
Cartersville officials didn’t return calls requesting numbers but you can get an idea of business growth by looking at the tax digest, which is publicly accessible here. The 2023 Cartersville gross tax digest was $2.02 billion, compared to $1.57 billion last year. The tax digest shows growth every year for the past five years, even with the pandemic striking in 2020.
Numbers for that year show a $1.34 billion tax digest, compared to $1.2 billion in 2019.