The Lake Area Improvement Corporation and Madison Chamber of Commerce took nearly a year to talk about the results of the big retail survey they conducted last spring, and they still didn't manage to edit out all of their cognitive dissonance. They look at the results that confirm what everyone in Madison knows (we want more grocery choices) and say we can't do anything about it:
What shoppers would like to see in Madison is more selection and competitive prices. The recurring theme for what is missing in Madison is another grocery store and more restaurants. Jamison said that businesses make their own decision if they chose to come.
"That's their decision," she said, "out of our control" [Jane Utecht, "City Grants Electrical Contract," Madison Daily Leader, 2014.05.06].
Out of our control? We hand tax dollars to the LAIC and Chamber, but they can't do anything to get businesses to come to Madison? Golly, that's not what Madison boosters are chirping as they pat each others' bottoms over plastic manufacturer Integra's announcement of another plant expansion:
"Why not in Madison?"
That was the question Madison's Dick Ericsson asked Mick Green and Royce Quamen about 25 years ago, when they visited with the Madison lawyer about opening up a plastics business in Spearfish. After working out some details, the businessmen did open their manufacturing business, Integra Plastics, in Madison.
On Tuesday they broke ground -- again in Madison -- for a third expansion of their plant. The pair chose Madison again because of the people, said owner Mick Green.
"This whole event is a tribute to the people of Madison," Green said, who "many years ago took a shot on an underfinanced company that would maybe turn into something" [Jane Utecht, "Integra Chooses Madison for Third Expansion," Madison Daily Leader, 2014.05.08].
The nice people of Madison (i.e., the ones handing out economic development incentives to companies in "need") apparently can take all sorts of credit for bringing businesses to Madison. But when it comes to attracting businesses that lots of working folks would like to see come to town to meet their daily shopping needs, well, golly-gee shrugging-whillikers, there's nothing we can do about that. Dick Ericsson will never just happen to be in Spearfish chatting with a grocery executive who's hoping to expand her empire. Mayor Lindsay will never just bump into an entrepreneur at a food service convention who's looking for a place to launch a new franchise. LAIC chief Julie Gross will never fly to Las Vegas and have a chance to pitch Madison to a developer who wouldn't otherwise have even heard of Madison.
Retail development, like any other component of economic development, is subject to decisions and economic factors that are beyond the control of any one community. But economic development as practiced in South Dakota is predicated on the notion that we can make efforts that will make us the captains—or at least the lieutenants—of our own destiny. Why the Chamber and LAIC would so easily dismiss the idea that they could bring a grocery store or other absent retail and entertainment opportunities to Madison demonstrates a selective blindness to opportunity.
With Dollar General closing, we probably could have scooped that building up cheap from its parent company and put the Thrift store in there, saving thousands of dollars over a new building new on main street. We keep putting the cart before the horse.
The "out of our control" comment is telling. They only control the things they want, like manufacturing and thrift stores. The city commission needs to take control of the budget and hold these people accountable for what the people want. Retail and entertainment expansion. It is ridiculous that it took over a year for the survey to come out, then come up with the response of "out of our control". A buy local campaign will only work if there is a wide selection of products at competitive prices. People aren't stupid and they do know how to read receipts and clip coupons.
If the market supported it wouldn't there be more restaurants? I have never known a restaurateur, and I know many, to turn away an American dollar. Same goes for grocers, although I know few who are not a duck of another color.
There probably won't be many more breakfast joints going up in Madison. I'm just sayin...
Ahsley, if retail development is so important to you, why haven't you done something yourself? Why wait for someone else to do it?
Mark brings us to the core question: with so much apparent demand, why has no one in the market responded with supply? Are entrepreneurs missing out on an opportunity? Or are citizens wishing unrealistically for a vibrant local retail economy?
My point, Mr. H, is that maybe there isn't really a demand. Because capitalists don't ignore opportunities. Maybe the people of Madison, which is a might swell community, simply don't eat out enough to make it worth a capitalists' effort. Or maybe you just need to drive to Brookings to eat at the Ram Pub. Again, I'm just sayin...
Cory, the demand is twisted. When it comes to retail, two huge barriers come into play for Madison. One, Sioux Falls (or Brookings for that matter) and Two, the Internet (Amazon.com, etc.). While the demand for certain products or services is in Madison, competition in today's world is complex.
When we looked at doing business in Madison five years ago, the only void for a "storefront" we could find was lodging, and that was a stretch. I found that for healthy retail development in Madison one of two things needed to happen. Either a manufacturing boom or a major increase in the enrolment at DSU. Now, things may have changed there, I haven't paid much attention since moving to Wyoming, but I suspect it hasn't.
I think I said it here on a previous post, but people need to understand that even if there was a retail boom in Madison, you would not see competitive prices compared to Sioux Falls or Internet shopping. There simply isn't enough volume for someone to make money and be able to compete with the previously mentioned variables. I hate to say it, but the best option is to be content with the shopping in Madison and focus on job creation in other sectors, and perhaps retail would follow suit.
One has to remember in today's world, even though my nearest Wal-Mart is two hours away, I'm a few mouse clicks from Wal-Mart.com.
Mark, few people order food online.
I'm curious about the antipathy toward grocers on the part of the LAIC and chamber. Grocery stores come in a wide variety of sizes, and some big grocers are going with smaller stores.
The "out of our control" response does seem odd.
These small town need to sell service. With that service, prices on components can stay competitive. Amazon, SF and RC will never match great small town service with a smile.
The Madison Dollar General is closing? That's strange, as it seemed to be doing well when I was attending college there. I also can't seem to find any news regarding the closure.
I did hear that Family Dollar plans on closing about 300+ stores, and the Madison location is not very far from Dollar General.
In regards to retail development, one spot that I thought would have been a good place for a new retail business is the old FoodPride building behind Campbell Supply. The building was empty when I started class in 2006 and remained empty when I left in 2012, and the building's condition is deteriorating.
Let's talk REALITY.
A few years ago I was downtown doing a bit of Christmas shopping a couple of weeks before on a Saturday morning. At one store I went in at about 11, the store was deserted and the clerk said I was the FIRST one in that day.
The ONLY store doing brisk business was Stan's.
If in the busiest of seasons no one is shopping downtown, what would cause someone to decide to open a retail shop in Madison?
Wade, I have a soft spot in my heart for the Food Pride location. It was Chuck's Jack and Jill when I was little. It was the closest store to my house. I remember going for groceries with Mom on summer mornings. Campbell's Supply acquired the property but hasn't done anything with it yet.
Mark and Michael make me wonder if maybe the LAIC has had it right all along (flames burst from skull as I say that). Keep handing incentives to manufacturers, hope they hire enough workers to bring more families here and generate the additional demand necessary to meet the criteria of all the retailers whose decisions are out of our control.
But back to that central question: why is retail "out of our control" while manufacturing is not? Does retail require a larger or longer government subsidy than manufacturing to get going?
Increase the wages in Madison, and better the quality of job, and have more full time jobs with actual benefits, and then, we'll have some meaningful retail expansion. To say it's out of our control is a lame and pathetic response, what we need to do is say, we're working to increase the living standards of the residents of Madison, through working with the business owners, who we help subsidized with this latest economic program, etc, so we all have something more to spend. We'd all like nice things, but there's a reason we don't have them, and it's to out of our control, rather, it's within our reach, we just need a living wage.
And it's not out of our reach, rather, it's within our reach.
If you can't get customers to walk in the door, you are going to fail once that subsidy goes away.
Do we have video of fire coming out of your skull?
Manufacturing makes things for a market that is likely largely outside of the Madison urban zone.
Retail, at least in Madison, has to target a market that is largely within the Madison urban zone.
Hence, Manufacturing is necessary to create jobs to draw residents to demand and support more retail.
Eh?
As so far as what retail to offer in Madison as a small business owner, do so with this in mind, when Walmart comes to town, and has a tif too, what can I offer that will be sustainable and competitive. In a market the size of Madison, that's a tough one to wrap around easily, but it's totally possible. Be nice if we spent a year working on strategies and outreach tools for new business startups, and existing ones too, to ready for the onslaught of the Big box. Instead of thrift store, think incubator spaces, much like the program in DTSF, and pair those owners with other owners in town, build up a merchant base.