A local business owner who was leasing office space on the north side of the city has relocated to downtown Connersville.
Ryan Anderson relocated his franchise of Clear Choice Hearing Aid Centers to 134 W. Sixth St., the former location that housed The Cabinet Gallery. The cabinet retailer is now inside the Sears outlet on Park Road.
He is a licensed hearing aid dealer and has been certified by the National Board for Certification in Hearing Instrument Sciences. Anderson said he has been fitting hearing aids on clients for 17 years, and his four offices serve about 1,200 people.
About six years ago, Anderson opened a Clear Choice office on Western Avenue north of 30th Street. He wanted to invest in a property instead of leasing.
“I got a chance to purchase this building instead of renting,” Anderson said. “It’s just a better position to be in, obviously. Rent goes up and when you own a place, it stays the same.”
The decision to open a business and remain in Connersville was a common-sense approach to Anderson, who previously was employed with Miracle Ear for about 10 years.
“It just made sense to me, because a lot of the people I had been treating over the years lived in this area,” Anderson noted. “I’m from here, I know everybody, my whole family is here, it just made sense to me.”
Since acquiring the Sixth Street parcel, new carpet, repairing and replacing drywall, adding new light fixtures, a gas fireplace and new outdoor signage have been completed.
“We’ve spent $20,000 renovating, but that’s just remodeling, that’s not any sort of structural changes,” he said. “When they (The Cabinet Gallery) left, the walls were lined with cabinets and everything had to be redone.”
One client, Tom Wilson of Brookville, who has been a Clear Choice client for eight years and wearer of hearing aids for the last 25 years, was being tested and fitted for new hearing devices recently and commented, “the best results are from these guys right here.”
Anderson, who was born at Fayette Memorial Hospital in 1969, moved to Milton with his family when he was 6-months old.
He is a 1987 graduate of Lincoln High School. He owns and operates four locations of Clear Choice, including Connersville, Richmond, Brookville, Ohio and Greenville, Ohio.
Anderson and wife, Lisa, attend Community Gospel Church in Beeson’s Addition. They were married 26 years ago at Harrisburg Union Church by Pastor John Stewart.
The couple have two children, Michael, 22, who is serving in the U.S. Marine Corps; and daughter, Brittany Santos, 24, who is married and recently earned a degree from Indiana University majoring in biology.
His father, Ronnie Anderson was employed at Philco which later became Ford Electronics and Refrigeration before becoming Visteon. His grandfather, Arnold “Andy” Anderson, started at Rex Manufacturing which became Philco. He was a forklift operator.
The Connersville office is currently open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesdays. Anderson hopes to expand that in the future. The Richmond office is open five days a week, he said.
A grand reopening ribbon cutting ceremony will take place in late March or early April.
Article from: newsexaminer.com