Dollar General is coming to Sedan.
What will that mean for business in the area? Will it be the demise of Duckwalls? How will affect the flow of traffic to walleyworld? Will you buy your cheap plastic stuff at a little box rather than drive all the way to the big box store? There is already one in Caney,Dewey, and every other large city around. Is there a point where super saturation hurts same store sales? Eureka has kept its Alco and dollar store and seem to be both doing fine.
I don't think I would buy stock in Alco but Dollars pop up everywhere.
Dollar General in a small town like Sedan will have the same effect as Wal*Mart in a bigger town. The thing about Sedan is that the businesses already located there are privately owned by local residents. Dollar General and Wal*Mart a major corporations that buy in bulk and are able to cut prices on items that people use everyday, drawing them in and sucking more of their dollars out of them while they are there. It is unfortunate to have these corporate stores moving in and competing with our friends and neighbors. With all of us. I would not object to a new business, even a chain, if it offered something new and not already available in Sedan or other small towns like Howard. I do object when I hear people saying we need a buisness that is not offering a different service or products than what we already have, just more bells and whistles. If you put local residents out of business, who is going to continue shop at other businesses or move here and send their kids to schools here?
I haven't done much shopping in Sedan lately to know what the Duckwalls has to offer. I would think it would be very similar to the Dollar General? Granted, a new business that will give 6-10 jobs to the area is great, but I also worry it will put some other store out of business and lose 6-10 jobs. I wonder that if a smarter move would have been to close Duckwalls and turn it into a bigger Alco store. Remember, Alco/Duckwalls is at least a KS corporation.
I marveled this week when I struck up conversation with a man who was walking along Wabash Street in Howard. He pointed to Batson Drug and said, "I can't believe Howard has a store like that. I hope the people in this town support it."
He was from out of town and didn't know beans about the community, but his comment struck a chord with me. If, indeed, we want to keep corporate stores out of our communities, there is one huge piece of artillery that is available to everyone concerned --- SHOP AT HOME!
The same goes for other stores whether they're in Moline, Howard, Longton, or wherever --- they offer certain products and services that large corporations don't even know about.
Obviously, communities can't pass ordinances keeping new businesses from coming in. If they did, there wouldn't be ANY stores or service businesses in these towns. It's a new day, and often it is necessary to link up with other businesses in other towns. We will never experience the local ownership that we did 50 to 75 years ago. Those days are gone.
All I know is that my daughter, who is editor of our newspaper, and my wife, have started making a list of items they will buy at Batson's at Christmas-time. It's well worth the drive for us.
And, we have a four-year-old grandson who keeps Duckwalls in business at Sedan. It's just like an old-fashioned dime store ... we love it.
And yes, we live two blocks from a Dollar General store in Caney, so we drop some cash there, too.
It's all a part of the complicated maze that we call the local economy.
And sometimes it ain't purty.
Here is SoCal, we have all the big-box stores, Walmart, Sam's Club, Costco--------------places where you can buy many things in bulk. And, there are times when that could come in handy. We seem to have a lot of battery powered toys around and buying them at the local grocery store costs $3 to $4. Going to the local 99 cent store, we can buy the same batteries for------99 cents.
But, the 99 cent store doesn't come close to carrying what other items we need. The local Walmart/s are a disaster as far as lines and narrow isles sometimes packed with merchandise to be put away. My wife carries a Costco membership card, but we don't go there very often. We have it only because our son is on it and he likes to go there. We had a free Sam's Club card for one year after a visit to see what the store was like. We liked the store, but never went back.
So we shop at the local and nearby grocery stores and shop in the malls on occasion. Many of the grocery stores here also have pharmacies allowing my wife to get her prescriptions and one store even has a bank branch with ATM's if we need that.
Larryj
I like to browse, and have always gotten a real kick out of browsing in Duckwalls. When I go to Sedan, it is usually a stop I make. I do shop Dollar General every two weeks when I make an excursion to Independence. My dogs like their brand of canned dog food, and tomcat loves their pouch food. And their price on laundry supplies is competitive with Walmart, and I don't have to struggle with a big loaded cart that refuses to steer around all the various piles of stuff in Walmart. The employees are friendly and helpful, always with a greeting and a 'Thank You'. Very important! I really like Floyds' Market for produce, it is usually fresher and a better price than Walmart. Lets' hope that Dollar General will be a great addition to Sedan and the surrounding area.
We live in a small town out side of Topeka and we are getting a Dollar General. I am supprised as we have a have a dozen of them in Topeka.
Jane
OK, so I've reevaluated my thoughts. I think ANY new business moving into a small town is GOOD. As long as it doesn't close down another business. AND as long as the local people support it. Buying locally helps the local economy.
If I were to win the lotto (OK, I'd have to play first), that's what I'd do... open a bunch of stores in small towns. I'd hire local people and push money into the local economies.
I can personally tell you that if you would actually put a pencil to it, you can get the same stuff here at Batson's/Family Market with out the drive!! I love it!! I am their #1 FAN!!! :laugh:
Here in norcal, i have similar experiences as outlined by Larry. Not being from the community, what i say might not mean much but i would encourage anyone to support the local businesses. When you buy from big corporations, that money usually ends up going overseas.
I buy a few things at Dollar General, however; I have noticed that their cleaning supplies come in a smaller quantity then does Wal-Mart. I mostly buy spices and chips from Dollar General, but I am like Angi, I buy from Batson's when I am in Howard. I don't think you can beat the prices and the selection. There are very few things that I cannot find at Batson's. I have also shopped at Duckwall's, but it has been quite sometime ago.
Janet has hit upon something that all consumers should notice --- the smaller containers at Dollar General and similar stores.
I talked with Roger Floyd (grocer at Sedan) about this recently, and he pointed to the larger boxes in his store. Obviously, if a store chain is large enough to get into repackaging, they will end up selling you smaller containers of cereal, dog food, etc. The price tag doesn't always tell the complete story.
This is true. Since the recession started, your favorite items that you buy are being packaged in smaller containers and sold for the same price you paid before, sometimes even more. The coffee we buy is several ounces lighter than before and some of the dry goods, i.e., pastas, rice, and some canned goods are smaller than before.
Larryj
One thing to remember is that you can buy cases of products at Batson's and I think they only charge 10% over their cost. It's different than "bulk" b/c normally bulk means one big container (waste and spoilage), whereas with cases, you get the same smaller size item, but more of them, which usually stores better. I don't think any chain store will do that for you.
Yes, a case of just about anything we carry (and things we don't normally carry also) and it's only 10% over my cost. Thanks Tobina+1.
The Family Market sells Our Family brand products. The elementary schools can turn in Our Family labels and earn 5 cents each label for the schools.