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Dollar General confirms new store for Kenmare...

Since December of last year there has been speculation that Dollar General might build a new store in Kenmare.

7/23/19 (Tue)

Last stop... A building, formerly known as Kenmare One Stop, is ready to roll through Kenmare Monday, bound for a residential area in Carpio. The building housed the clothing store of the One Stop complex. It was moved by Kevin Huwe to make room for a new Dollar General store that is expected to be operational sometime in the fall.

By Marvin Baker

Since December of last year there has been speculation that Dollar General might build a new store in Kenmare.

In April, Dollar General confirmed it was considering Kenmare but was doing a feasibility study to see the community was the right fit.

Now, there’s confirmation that the mini department store will be setting up shop in Kenmare.

Dollar General public relations director Angela Petkovic told The Kenmare News, now that the Kenmare One Stop buildings have been moved out, construction will commence on a new store.

It will be located on the same property as Kenmare One Stop, on the corner of Sixth Street and Broadway, adjacent to U.S. Highway 52.

“Dollar General is currently under construction on its new location in Kenmare,” Petkovic said. “At this time, a grand opening is slated for early fall, but understand that construction progress may alter this date.”

It seems an anomaly that Dollar General is building and growing with its aggressive business plan while other discount stores continue to fold.

ALCO, Shopko, Pamida and Family Dollar have all struggled to gain a market share in numerous locations nationwide and across North Dakota and most have now closed.

However, Dollar General continues to build with more than 20 new stores in North Dakota in the past three years.

Designed to serve customers in rural areas, Dollar General does have locations in Minot, West Fargo and two stores in Watford City, but is more widely known in smaller communities such as Cando, Grafton and Langdon.

It also serves communities of less than 1,000 population in Steele, Wyndmere, Enderlin and Edgeley, with Wyndmere having fewer than 500 population.

“When choosing store locations, meeting customers’ needs is Dollar General’s top priority,” Petkovic said. “The company looks for places where we can offer customers an easy and convenient shopping choice. We know convenience is a major factor in our customers’ shopping decisions as we generally serve customers within a 3-to-5-mile radius or 10-minute drive. We also take demographic trends, competitive factors, traffic patterns and community concerns into consideration.”

One of those concerns was with the city of Kenmare. Last year in December Dollar General approached the city about purchasing some property between M & K’s Pizza Hub and Pioneer Village, but was turned down.

By April, Dollar General had secured a deal with Dave and Penny Sigloh to purchase the Kenmare One Stop property.

The only other place in North Dakota that has turned down a Dollar General location is Velva.

The city of Velva declined a developer’s offer of $100,000 for a 1.4 acre property on the west side of town.

Negotiations with the city of Kenmare didn’t get far enough to reach a monetary offer. The Sigloh’s sold their property for an undisclosed amount.

“The store will employ approximately six to 10 people, depending on the individual needs of the store,” Petkovic said.

As far as square footage, Dollar General stores are most often smaller than other discount stores such as Shopko, Pamida or ALCO. However, the company packs a wide variety of name brand products such as Proctor & Gamble, Nabisco and General Mills into each of its stores.

Some of the products include health and beauty products, stationary, housewares, food and basic clothing.

Two things Dollar General does not carry in its stores are fresh meat and produce...  Read EVERY WORD on EVERY PAGE of The Kenmare News by subscribing--online or in print!