Sanford's sons: Hammered in the recession, the Lee County seat has rebounded and is taking better advantage of its proximity to the triangle.

• Author: Pomeranz, Jim
• Position: TOWNSQUARE

Last October, when Ryan Elliott and his partners opened Libations, a specialty wine and beer store, there was little fanfare about the new retailer in Sanford, a central North Carolina city of nearly 30,000. Celebration is usually reserved for factories moving in or expanding. Sanford, with a manufacturing base that makes up a third of total employment, is a blue-collar town in modestly growing Lee County. While Elliott, 36, didn't add much to the employment base, his store is helping create a more dynamic city. "This is just what Sanford needs more of," Mayor Chet Mann says. "Young people moving to Sanford, establishing small businesses, making the city unique and attractive for more of the same."

Before moving back home to Sanford, Elliott spent five years in Raleigh, where he managed a wine and beer store. Lower housing costs were a key factor in his return. "Still, my wife, Emily, and I were commuting every day to Raleigh to work," he says. "We were shopping in Raleigh, dining in Raleigh, doing everything in Raleigh except sleeping."

His store creates new opportunity. "There was nothing in Sanford like it," Elliott says. "The building renovations along Chatham Street in the heart of town made this an inviting location. And, we were growing fond of Sanford, the small-town atmosphere, a good place to raise our daughter."

For all the many small businesses that are changing Sanford, the community relies on current manufacturers to expand and new companies to locate in Lee County to keep its economy growing. Like much of North Carolina, the county's economy has come full circle over the last decade. Jobs were aplenty in the mid-2000s, when the unemployment rate declined to 5.2%. Then the recession hit, with manufacturers particularly slammed. Lee County unemployment topped 15% in May 2009, and four and a half years later, at the end of 2013, the rate remained above 10%, depicting the sluggish recovery.

In the ensuing three years, Lee County unemployment has fallen to 5.4%, reflecting new hiring and former workers no longer seeking jobs. Fewer people work in the county than a decade ago, though its population has grown by 5%, or about 3,000 residents, federal filings show. Still, the improved economy shows up in paychecks, with per capita income gaining 7% over the previous year to about $34,650 in 2015 after stagnating for a decade.

"Manufacturing usually supplies about 12-15% of jobs in most communities," says Bob Joyce, executive director...