S.D. residents buy shares to open town's only general store

CLARK, S.D. -- This prairie town of 1,300 loves its football, and residents are just about split between the Minnesota Vikings and the Green Bay Packers, says Randy Gruenwald, a local banker. It's no surprise when the annual Potato Days Parade has entries representing both teams, he says.

The people of Clark aren't split, however, when it comes to financing the Clark Hometown Variety Store. They're rooting together for a business model that helped build the Green Bay Packers into a National Football League power as they attempt to make a go of a community-owned general store that opened in February.

In 1923, Green Bay townspeople paid $5 a share to be part-owners of the team. The franchise is still owned by the community, says Lee Remmel, 84, an ex-Green Bay Packers historian.

In similar fashion, more than 100 people in Clark have purchased $500 shares to finance the opening of the Clark Hometown Variety Store. The store will take the place of the Duckwall store, which was one of 20 underperforming stores parent company Duckwall-Alco Stores of Kansas closed in 2005.

"We had no place in town to buy a pair of shoelaces or buy socks or underwear or any of those things," says Greg Furness, a shareholder who runs the local funeral home. Residents, he says, had to make a 40-minute drive — sometimes in treacherous winter conditions — to Watertown every time they needed supplies.

Town residents coming together to open stores is "definitely a growing initiative," says Stacy Mitchell, a senior researcher at the Minneapolis-based Institute for Local Self-Reliance. "People feel a sense of ownership for the business, and that sense of ownership brings people into the store," she says.

Clark officials contacted national corporations when the Duckwall store closed. But the corporations "didn't want to risk bringing their store into a small community," Gruenwald says.

Some stockholders purchased multiple shares and ultimately raised about $100,000, Furness says. Then townspeople volunteered their time to refurbish the store.

Last Christmas Eve, the unfinished store opened for a few hours "as a Christmas present for the community," Gruenwald says.

"It was overwhelming," says Gruenwald, 46. The store was packed, and there was a constant line at the checkout, he says. In February, the store held its full grand opening.

Two co-managers order and help stock items for the 6,500-square-foot sales floor, Gruenwald says. Among the most popular items: fabric and sewing items; crafts; and athletic apparel from Clark High and nearby Willow Lake High, he says.

Carolyn Harding, 73, was picking up some supplies in the fabric section of the Clark store one recent afternoon. Harding, a 1953 Clark High graduate and a seamstress, has volunteered to share her expertise with other customers.

Furness says the store's backers found a few similar efforts elsewhere.

In Saranac Lake, N.Y., townspeople held an open house May 9 as part of their plan to sell shares for a community store, says Melinda Little, 55, one of several volunteers. They hope to replace an Ames department store that closed in 2002. With about 450 investors so far, backers of the Upstate New York store are at about 65% of their goal of raising $500,000 and hope to open the store by summer's end, Little says. Shares are $100 each.

The Saranac Lake store is being modeled, in part, after a store in Powell, Wyo., Little says. Powell Mercantile Inc. started about six years ago after the town lost its downtown department store, Powell Mayor Scott Mangold says.

The Powell store has been profitable every year since it started in 2002, store manager Paul Ramos says. Most profits are plowed back into the store, but a $75 dividend was paid to investors two years ago, he says.

The inspiration for the Powell store was Little Muddy Dry Goods in Plentywood, Mont., Mangold says. Little Muddy is now in its 10th year of operation, says Sandra Elm, who manages the store.

Plentywood's store hasn't paid dividends but has provided a long-term business on Main Street, says Frank French, a local businessman.

Mitchell says similar stores include the Garnet Mercantile in Ely, Nev., founded in 2004 and the Livingston Mercantile in Livingston, Mont., which opened in 2006.

The projection is for about $250,000 to $300,000 in annual sales at the Clark store, Gruenwald says.

"None of us have gotten a dime for doing this, it's just been strictly a labor of love and wanting to have something like this in the community," Furness says. "This is a true old-fashioned five-and-dime."

Martin reports for the Argus Leader in Sioux Falls, S.D.