Company of the Day: Circle City Outdoor

Markets: Minnesota

Phone: 612-616-8133

Circle City Outdoor operates 38 billboard faces in Minnesota, including 1 digital face. The signs are located south of Minneapolis. Billboard Insider talked with the company’s general manager Duane Fredrickson. In 2024 Circle City sold 29 static billboard faces in Indiana to JR Promotions in order to focus on growing the Minnesota plant.

How did you get into the out of home business?

I knew that I wanted to start my own business when I was 18 yrs old, I just didn’t know what that was going to be. I made up a list of criteria that I wanted in this new business, no moving parts, no warranty work, business to business etc. I then took the yellow pages, (this was a long time ago), and plugged my criteria into every business category. I narrowed it down to cement burial vault and billboards. Billboards sounded more glamorous.

Tell us about your digital?

We have a 10 by 30 two sided billboard on a secondary road in New Prague Minnesota. We converted one side to digital in December 2022. Daktronics provided the sign. Their headquarters is 4 hours away from my house which makes it easy to get parts. Leslie Morris at Skydragondesigns assists us with the operation of the sign. The sign is near New Prague’s high school and athletic fields and is sold out. Digital signs will work on secondary roads as long as you keep your costs down.

What’s new at Circle City over the past year?

We have done a few new locations over the past year. It’s crazy hard in Minnesota to get any new sites. The regulatory environment is really, really tough. We also implemented the SignDash billboard sales and inventory software. Signdash is super easy to use, connects seamlessly to our website and is priced reasonably for a small independent operator like us.

You’ve got several signs on railroad land. What’s it like building structures on railroad land?

Yes, we developed a good relationship with the Minnesota Valley Regional Rail Authority a few years back, and it’s paid good dividends. We now have a master lease agreement with the railroad. Part of that master agreement is that we have an exclusive on new sites.

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Company of the Day: Circle City Outdoor

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