Last updated on 2012.01.06
Holy cow, Ashley! Madison is going to get a new retailer! Shopko is coming to Madison!
Alas, it's coming by merging with Pamida and turning Pamida stores into "Shopko Hometown" stores:
Green Bay-based Shopko Stores and Pamida announced Wednesday they will merge and spend $80 million to convert existing Pamida stores to Shopko Hometown stores, which are smaller retail outlets typically found in communities of less than 10,000 people.
The company also said it plans to add five to seven Hometown stores in 2013 and up to 30 a year beginning in 2014.
None of the new stores would be larger-format stores like the Shopko stores found in the Madison area. Instead, they would range from 15,000 to 30,000 square feet and be located in more rural communities that are not typically served by other big-box retailers such as Walmart and Target [Barry Adams, "Merger with Pamida to Let Shopko Expand to Smaller Towns," Wisconsin State Journal, 2012.01.04].
That sounds just like the sort of smaller-scale big-chain store my friend Ashley Allen was hoping we could recruit to stimulate Madison retail. But the changeover doesn't appear to offer a ner gain. We'll see if Shopko can bring us any new merchandise offerings.
On the surface of things, this will be good news for our madison community. Would surrounding towns like Salem, Howard, or Arlington be candidates for such a store like Shopko Home Town? Maybe Shopko would entertain a venture with owners of West Twin Theatres to build a new movie venue near the store?
This is great news! I know there has been an on again, off again relationship between Shopko and Pamida for many years. Looks like they finally realized to compete with Walmart and the Dollar Stores they needed consolidate efforts, streamline product lines, and distribution routes.
My wife and I hope this means that the local Pamida will be remodeled (and maybe expanded a bit). We also hope this means more quality brands at a competitive price.
Our family has been making a concise effort in the last year to shop at all the local stores and use coupons to get the prices more in line with what you can find in Brookings and Sioux Falls. Unfortunately, there are still some things that you can't find or that are lower in price in the big city.
I hope this new Shopko Hometown Store will mean less trips out of town for many and more local sales tax revenue.
Now, if we could just get that second full service grocery store in town. Safeway, Coborns, or anything to compete with Sunshine.
We apparently have one of the larger, newer Pamida stores. Apparently same old owners as the new owners will spend millions replacing the Pamida signs on the buildings. I suspect we will see mostly increased Shopko prices compared to Pamida pricing as a consequence...at least for some time. My son shops at Walmart, Shopko, Target, Sam's Club, etc. in Rapid City. He says that Shopko does not compete well with prices. That is his perspective. When I can compare local Pamida pricing with same products in other large retailers, mostly they are about the same and sales prices are usually better. Not always the products I like however.
I suspect we are likely to see significant price increases in all kinds of merchandise because manufacturing has shifted to China and Chinese labor costs are increasing as are transportation expense and probably the ratio between US and Chinese currency too.
Sounds like the continuation of the Death Spiral for Pamida/Shopko. It sounds like a last ditch effort to keep the Pamida chain going. Madison has one of the nicer Pamida stores I have been in several in different areas that very little selection on basic items and next to no inventory.
Pamida was then Gibsons when it was built in about 1975. I remember it well! My mother said it would fail cause no one would drive way out there to go to one store. The old one had been on Egan Avenue where everyone did all their shopping. It's been a great store for Madison and Shopko has some really good merchandise the few times I've been there. Let's cross our fingers it works out.
I stepped off the dimensions of our Winner Pamida. It is nearly 60,000 sq. ft. plus a few thousand storage. The manager was on vacation, so I got no information beyond what I found by myself. Press releases from Shopko indicated the Shopko Hometown or whatever they called it would be in stores up to 31,000 sq. ft. I don't know if that means ours will end up being an actual full Shopko or not. The press release indicated Shopko sold $2 Billion of stuff and Pamida $1 Billion last year.
Local Pamida clerks must have gotten the word on discussion, because it was all how this was going to be better because of the larger operation getting better prices, etc. No comment when I suggested less competition at the retail front might mean higher prices for consumers anyway. Another less fully indoctrinated was convinced something equivalent to "There will be Blood." and said was already making backup plans for other sources of income. I guess we will know more around July.