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Madison Response to Demand for More Retail: Start Your Own Store

You may recall the discussion my Madison neighbor Ashley Kenneth Allen started earlier this summer about bringing more retail to Madison. Heartland general manager Mike McDowell invited Allen to come discuss the issue at the July board meeting of our local economic development corporation, the Lake Area Improvement Corporation. However, shortly after Allen wrote a letter to the editor offering constructive criticism of the LAIC's economic development efforts, he appears to have been disinvited from the LAIC meeting.

Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not... but McDowell never even got back to me on getting together over coffee to talk economic development.

In perhaps related news, Chamber of Commerce director Julie Gross addressed the desire for more retail choices in Madison in the August Chamber newsletter.

Julie Gross, executive director, Madison Chamber of Commerce
Julie Gross, executive director, Madison Chamber of Commerce

If you'd like to see a store that sells XX, have you considered opening a store? If there's an organization that you think should provide a specific service or if you have an idea to help them fundraise, have you considered joining their group? I know there are people all over Madison with awesome ideas &ndash some of you get involved and some of you don't. Put it on your bucket list to get involved and make a difference in Madison. If you live here and call Madison home I'm sure you want to see positive things happen in our community. We need your input to help make Madison an even better place to live [Julie Gross, "Note from the Director," Madison Chamber of Commerce newsletter, 2011.].

Open your own dang store. That's a great solution, almost as good as recommending that, if Sunshine doesn't carry enough grass-fed local beef, you should raise your own cow, or if nobody in town carries children's socks and undies, you should knit your own.

Opening your own store is a thrilling entrepreneurial experience. The free market allows each one of us that opportunity. But the free market also thrives on specialization. 90&ndash95% of regular working folks don't have the capital, time, desire, and/or talent to open their own clothing store. (Their talents lie elsewhere!) Most retirees would prefer to enjoy their retirement rather than sink their kids' inheritance and the Social Security checks into a new grocery store and spend their golden years working 12 hours a day. Most Dakota State University students (o.k., except for you, Joe Kahler) have plenty to do keeping their grades up and paying tuition without also acquiring commercial property and launching a bicycle shop.

Most people aren't going to start their own stores. They shouldn't have to. They're already doing their part for the free market by working, earning wages, and/or getting educated. Grandma and Grandpa have already done their part and deserve a relaxing retirement. Those folks are all counting on the business leaders in the local economy to do their part: provide the goods and services they want at affordable prices.

But Madison's business community responds to apparent demand by saying, "You want more retail? We're not interested. Do it yourself. Or just have another beer."

Notice that Gross does not acknowledge that Madison lacks retail choices. Madison's leaders never do; they staunchly defend the status quo. They refuse to admit they aren't already doing the best they possibly can. They ascribe most criticism to either a lack of information (the solution for which is to buy more banners and more TV ads) or a mean-spirited, non-team-player desire to destroy Madison. Everything is fine; if you have a problem, it's your fault, not Madison's. Build your own grocery store.

In related news, my new job offers my family the opportunity to compare Madison, one of the largest Class A towns in South Dakota, with Spearfish, one of the smallest Class AA towns in South Dakota. As we have discussed the move, we have regularly remarked, "Wow! We can get [insert retail item here] right in town!" We can shop at three grocery stores (two are within a ten-minute walk). I can get bicycle parts at two bicycle shops. I think there's a thrift store, maybe two, where I can get a cheap suit coat. And there's (Ashley!) Wal-Mart. And K-Mart. And an outfitter. And at least a couple children's consignment shops. And probably some other unexpected options I need to get out and discover.

Hmm... start our own store, or do the work we're much better suited for (teaching, writing, pastoring) and enjoy a local economy that meets more of our consumer wants. What would you choose?

10 Comments

  1. Bill Fleming 2011.08.22

    I've been wondering if a change in Masthead is in your future. Are you going to change it to "Madfish? LOL

  2. Matt Groce 2011.08.22

    I was surprised to see just how much bigger than Madison Spearfish is. Spearfish has an average daily membership that is 200 students higher than Madison. That's about the same difference as there is between Madison and Viborg!

  3. Stan Gibilisco 2011.08.22

    A plumber in Lead/Deadwood who would make appointments and keep them on time -- such a person could quickly become rich. Wouldn't need a store. Just an ad in the Yellow Pages, "A Plumber Who Shows Up On Time, LLC." Will there ever exist such a person, such an bold entrepreneur, such an angel of light? Don't bet on it! No wonder capitalism has fallen ill. The fire has gone out!

  4. RGoeman 2011.08.22

    I was thinking "MadHills" Times...

  5. Douglas Wiken 2011.08.22

    "Start your own store" is probably a corollary of "If you don't like that about South Dakota, get the hell out of here."

  6. Taunia Adams 2011.08.22

    The Fish Hatchery was our favorite hangout. Nice people show up. Great scenery. Free. We wanted to set all the captives free in the stream.

    Will you be jumping right into Spearfish politics?

  7. caheidelberger Post author | 2011.08.23

    Spearfish does feel big, Matt, and disorientingly non-gridlike. All these neighborhoods spill out and around the hills. And a trip to Wal-Mart is like a trip out of town on the freeway. (I actually said that Sunday night: "Let's take the freeway home.")

    Masthead changes will have to wait... at least until Qwest sends out their technician to hook us up! (Five business days?!?! Guys, for me, that's like saying you won't have my water hooked up until next Monday. Arrgghh!)

    Fish hatchery -- indeed! That will be an early field trip with the Divine Miss K. Spearfish politics? I do need to track down the Lawrence County Dems, find out what's up. And with only a weekly paper, these folks could use some more local coverage... unless I have the mayor's kids in class. ;-)

  8. Michael Black 2011.08.23

    Spearfish also has a Interstate running through it.

    BTW- My wife and I did start our own business in the Madison area. Cory, you should've gone for it instead of moving west.

  9. caheidelberger Post author | 2011.08.23

    The Interstate -- Oh! Madison! Why didn't you listen to Senator Mundt!

    Be careful with that "should" word, Mike. We all make different life choices. Very few of them are normative... i.e., the fact that one person chose X does not imply that everyone else should choose X. I'm not sure there is any "should" to my current career choice. As my friend Bill Fleming might say, it is what it is. So far, it's quite enjoyable. But that doesn't mean it was the best choice or the one that I should have made. We'll see what further good and ill may come of it.

    Madison, however, seems to have made and continue to make some bad choices that do not serve the general welfare. Rather than listening to people who are suggesting alternatives, Madison is blowing them off, thinking it has nothing to gain by listening to people with alternative viewpoints.

  10. Mickie 2011.08.24

    "Open your own store" - Wow, I could write a book on this topic. (Oh - wait, I am!) I was a small business owner for 4 1/2 years. It bottomed out and we closed the doors. I learned a lot of hard lessons - which I'm still paying for - literally. Madison and Lake County would be well-served if they offered real assistance to people who did want to start their own business. Things like finding financing, managing those finances, understanding laws and regulations, planning, hiring. And because as a small business you're forced to do everything yourself because you won't have the funds in the beginning, you end up doing your marketing yourself, designing your own ads, figuring displays and visual merchandising yourself, - oh and sweeping the floors and cleaning the toilet. Even if you have an MBA, nothing prepares you for the hundreds of small, daily decisions (each of which carries a price tag) you have to make. If concrete, practical start-up assistance was available to people interested in running their own business, I'd support Julie's view. But absent that - her remark is sadly - laughable.

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