Retail Industry Forum

Highlights from Forum on the Retail Industry
October 22, 2002 Sawmill Inn, Grand Rapids, MN

Area retailers (from left) Craig Bender of Bender's Shoes, Wayne Cole of Cole's Hardware, Jerry Miner of Cub Foods and Mike Rourke of Remer True Value talk about industry trends.

Issues and Trends:

Craig Bender
* Physical growth of retail stores is necessary to accommodate customer demand
* Specialization is not an option in a small community
* Suppliers to retailers have more leverage as they consolidate
* Retailers have been impacted by sales on the Internet
* Advertising must be more effective, since it's harder to be noticed

Wayne Cole
* Property taxes have increased, particularly as retailers have moved to more spacious locations to accommodate parking and inventory space
* The decline of the Iron Range and forest products effects every retailer in the area
* More foreign goods are available
* Store hours have been extended, and they've been forced to comply to remain competitive

Jerry Miner
* Consolidation provides more expert market research for those large enough to survive
* Customer trends affect what is offered for sale within their four walls
* Traditional grocery stores compete with convenience stores, fast food, big box retailers and other grocery stores

Mike Rourke
* Suppliers are being acquired and merged, and retailers have fewer options
* Big box retailers bring another level of competition to bear; difficult for small retailers

JOBS 2020 Steering Committee member Ed Zabinski facilitates discussion.

How Can the Community Help?

Craig Bender
* City should work with the CBD to remain viable
* Stabilize employment
* Diversify the economy
* Customers should be loyal

Wayne Cole
* Regulators (i.e., OSHA) should work with store owners on reasonable regulations
* Downsize government (fewer regulations, lower taxes)
* Shop locally

Jerry Miner
* Create more jobs
* Maintain the paper mill near the status quo in terms of jobs
* Growth anywhere in Itasca County (e.g., Cohasset industrial park) is a good thing

Mike Rourke
* Think of retailers as the backbone of your community (they provide goods/services; they are involved in community activities; they invest in local projects)

Steve Gall (additional comments)
One good idea to take away: organize a "picnic in the park". Learn more about your community by organizing a bus tour of the businesses in your industrial park and other parts of the community. Visit these businesses over four to six weeks, and host a picnic in a vacant building. You'll be amazed at how much you increase the awareness within your business community about their peers and colleagues within the community.

Be known for something (anything). Save those bright ideas; they may not seem like much, but other communities and businesses have prospered by "seeing" something special about their community. Examples include: Lampert's "Throwed Rolls" in Nebraska; Wall Drug in Wall, South Dakota; Carp Days in a small town near Owatonna, MN; Judy Garland in Grand Rapids.

Keynote speaker Steve Gall of Murphy McGinnis told the audience of 100 that, when asked, consumers will say that "good service is more important to them than price."

JOBS 2020 Chairman Jim Hoolihan gives closing
remarks at the retail industry forum.