Hutchinson Leader - Business - Comments

Speaking of Capitalism...

BirdFluPandemic — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 19:29:56 -0500

Speaking of Capitalism... isn't it strange that Coleman is using Stella's as hub for his visit? Wouldn't other places of business or for-that-matter other food sellers who have be open for longer than a few weeks be more deserving? Perhaps a business who has paid some real-life dues so-to-speak. Is the Haag name pushing this through? I guess it can be disguised as "Capitalism".

BigBoy it wasn't that long

Muffin Man — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 18:46:57 -0500

BigBoy it wasn't that long ago that $2.99 gas was not considered a steal. It was a ripoff (and still is!)

My post said soon to be

BigBoy — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 18:23:40 -0500

My post said soon to be Ghost Town. I do believe that is where we are heading unless this community comes together and changes the way our local government and school district operate. The fact that we are voting on a mosquito tax, is ridiculous. Increasing property taxes $1000+ a year to build new football facilities is not a community need. I have only lived here a few years, but I have never paid taxes anywhere else like I pay here. It is 3x what I paid somewhere else and the infrastructure was 10x what it is here. How did they do it? Increase the tax base by promoting growth. If the taxes continue to go up in this town, people will leave (hence a Ghost Town). It has already begun to happen.

Where did I get the $1000+ increase from? Well, a couple of weeks ago the paper put in the estimated amounts your taxes will go up, if the school referendums pass, but they seemed to think property values in Hutchinson don't exist past $250,000. Well guess what? They do. Why would they not show a continuation of that chart, say up to $450,000? Because it would be over a $1200 increase and that would look bad. I am sure some will say if you can afford a $450,000 house, you can afford an additional $1200 a year. But that's not point, more taxes is the point.

Likewise, the city could have easily found something else to cut, rather than the bug spraying. It was their easy way to get around their cap and they know people will gladly pay for it. Again, that isn't the point, raising taxes is.

The city and school need to work together and find solutions or they will run people out of this town. We need people to be moving in. This community needs to be on a path of growth if they want to experience the fine life. I am convinced there are many in this community who do not want to see it grow, but want to have the best a large city offers. That's great, but be prepared to pay for it.

I understand Checkers closing had nothing to do with the community not supporting it. It was purely business. I just hate to see these buildings sit empty and fall apart or get vandalized. How long has the Wendy's building sat empty? With gas at such a steal ($2.99) people will begin traveling to the cities and St. Cloud again.

Sorry for going off the subject, but I wanted to clarify why I think we are heading in the wrong direction. The school issues belong in a different post.

Good point Terry. Had no

flowerladytoo — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:47:43 -0500

Good point Terry. Had no idea Checkers was going to close...then a couple days ago noticed the store was empty.

That's great news about GameStop. Hadn't heard about that one either. Maybe with the Best Buy coming in, the Marketplace will start filling the other vacant buildings and bring more businesses to Hutchinson.

That's capitalism —

Terry Davis — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:47:46 -0500

That's capitalism — competition has winners and losers. On the bright side, the last space in the County Fair Marketplace building anchored by Papa Murphy's Pizza on the west and Subway on the east is apparently being filled by a soon to open GameStop store.

I don't see how this is a Ghost Town, BigBoy. In recent years we've had a major two-story building put up downtown (Cornerstone Commons with American Pastime, Quinoz, etc.). That hasn't happened in decades. It was followed by another new downtown building for the video store.

Several new restaurants have opened — American Pastime, Quizno's, Dunn Bros Coffee, Squeaky's, El Loro, Madcakes and last week Zella's.

A new bank, Home State, opened on Highway 7 West in the past year. There must be some money here to support five banks (with a total of eight locations) and a credit union. A ghost town would not have that.

The mall has local ownership that is aggressively marketing the spaces in the mall and has lined up at least four new tenants already. One has open and the others should soon.

Plus, Runnings will relocate to the Hennen space at the south end of the mall, about doubling its space over what it had behind Plaza 15. Runnings will likely generate much more foot traffic through the mall than Hennen did. This is not a knock against Hennen, but a city of 14,000 with three furniture stores as Hutchinson had until now is pretty rare. When housing is not being built, furniture sales hurt.

We also are getting a Best Buy.

Hutchinson is somewhat unusual for a town of 14,000 to have three major discount stores — Target, Wal-Mart and ShopKo. We actually had four with Kmart until that company's bankruptcy issues. We also have three grocery stores, four if you count Target's food area.

Just because a corporate merger results in a store closing as in Checker's case, or as a result of unusual issues, as in Cub Foods' case, or because of corporate reorganization in the face of bad results, as in Office Max's case, I don't think you can label Hutchinson a Ghost Town. There are plenty of other cities of 10,000 to 15,000 in rural Minnesota that would love to have our problems. Open store fronts can be seen as opportunities for entrepreneurs with a different concept or vision.

(Terry Davis is a Hutchinson Leader staff writer. E-mail him at davis@hutchinsonleader.com.)

I guess that's one way to

flowerladytoo — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:18:42 -0500

I guess that's one way to stymie competition. Buy it and then close it. Checkers will be missed, prices will go up and now there's another empty building in the Country Fair Marketplace. Too bad :(

That's too bad. I really

BigBoy — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:40:18 -0500

That's too bad. I really liked Checker. They were much cheaper than O'Reillys, much friendlier and had a better selection. Too bad we have ANOTHER empty building in this soon to be Ghost Town.

Scheels won't be coming

April21 — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 18:28:54 -0500

Scheels won't be coming anytime soon, I've talked to people there, they are not interested since St. Cloud /Mankato have stores.

The only way to become an

B@ssDoctor — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 07:35:34 -0500

The only way to become an attractive community to shop in is to bring businesses like this to town. Gotta start somewhere I guess. I do believe that Best Buy probably have people alot smarter than me/you working on analysis studies. I am pretty sure they did their homework and weren't throwing darts for the next location.

If we could bring a Gander or a Scheels to this town, I believe they could make it as long as the base the store size on population and passersby going through Hutch to go fishing,

Can a town of 16,000 support

wildchild — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 22:27:07 -0500

Can a town of 16,000 support a Best Buy? That is the question. Do not rely on the BIG DRAW from outside. Anyone outside 20 miles in any direction will go to either St. Cloud, Willmar, Mankato or the twin cities. Those locations have much more to offer plus a larger population base to start with. Come shop at Hutchinson Best Buy, after you can eat at Applebees or Taco Bell.

I hope this succeeds but have serious doubts. I'd like to see the parking lot on a weekday evening, I bet (after the novelty wears off) it's very quiet.

Thanks for the research

krusen — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 16:10:28 -0500

Thanks for the research B@ssDoctor.

Guido,
So you think this town can support a Best Buy, but cannot support a Scheels? Personally, the main reason I drive to nearby larger cities is to find a place that has a decent selection of sporting goods or hunting/camping gear. Very rarely do I need to travel to find some sort of electronics or media that I can't find here. If one were to poll the residents in and surrounding Hutch, I would bet that they have a similar opinion. Not to mention that I have been to Scheels stores in other cities that are smaller than the Office Max building. I somewhat agree with you on Gander mountain, but can't a guy dream a little without getting attacked by some random guido?

As far as the restaurant plea goes, don't you realize that there is a new fine dining establishment opening very soon on Main St.? This is in spite of the fact that naysayers like you said that Hutch cannot support another restaurant.

Not when towns like

B@ssDoctor — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 11:16:36 -0500

Not when towns like Rochester or Mankato don't have them?

Hellooooooo:

Gander Mountain
#481 1940 Adams St., Mankato, MN, 56001, (507) 345-3600
#367 3470 55th Street NW, Rochester, MN, 55901, 507-252-2033

Scheels Sports
Mankato River Hills Mall
1850 Adams Street, Suite 6
Mankato, MN 56001
507.386.7767

I don't think anyone will

guidotkp — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 10:07:48 -0500

I don't think anyone will take over the old Office Max or Cub Foods buildings because they are both being paid for many years...Best Buy will be a nice addition to this town...Now if we could only get another restaurant. It's getting old going to the same restaurants. As far as Gander MTN or Scheels, we are WAY to small for stuff like that. Not a chance. Not when towns like Rochester or Mankato don't have them. Hutchinson isn't big enough

It's too bad Best Buy chose

muellerleile — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 09:44:32 -0500

It's too bad Best Buy chose not to utilize one of the empty buildings in that area.

I'm not sure how badly this

krusen — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 16:52:10 -0500

I'm not sure how badly this town needs a Best Buy, but it would be nice to see a Gander Mountain or Scheels in one of the buildings next to it.