Businesses moving to Black Hills area look to bring jobs, opportunity for workers

BLACK HILLS, S.D. — In 2021, the Black Hills have seen many businesses come to the area.

Cole-TAC cut the ribbon to a Rapid City store in the summer with its other location in New Hampshire.

The tactical accessory manufacturer was looking at states like Wyoming and South Dakota, especially for communities that would support their business.

“The two big factors in this were business friendly and firearms friendly, and you know, South Dakota checked both of those boxes,” said Dustin Coleman, a Co-Owner of Cole-TAC.

In September, Æsir Technologies Inc., a battery manufacturer from Joplin, Missouri, was another business that came to the area with plans of bringing as many as 1,250 jobs.

Now Albany Farms, a ramen noodle production company from Los Angeles, California, is in Belle Fourche. The company says an array of factors have made the move more feasible, starting with import costs that have posed problems for many different businesses in the us.

“Containers that might cost us $1,000 pre-COVID have peaked at about $20,000 apiece and in the food space, that’s, it goes from difficult to virtually impossible,” said Bill Saller, the President & CEO of Albany Farms.

Other reasons for the move include bringing food production back to the states.

“Our food supply should be precious and it should produced in the U.S.,” Saller said.

Belle Fourche’s location also proved to be another reason for the move.

“What we like about it is it serves the northwest really well and certainly serves the east very well, so we think it’s a real good location to accommodate a significant number of our customers, and so it it just seems like the right fit,” Saller said.

Albany Farms has purchased a facility with about 38 acres in Belle Fourche and plans to make the transition in four phases.

Phases that included hiring roughly 150 to 200 employees from now until April of 2022 by building onto its current facility and building a flour mill and packaging facility in the future.