I have been enjoying my almost weekly response to Jodi’s Journal. For full disclosure Jodi and I have a ‘news’ relationship. We talk when we see each other in public and we email frequently about things going on in the community and if you ever have a chance to speak with her in person, you are fortunate, because she is a loaded with information about our community, business and the economics of it all. So I found her article about shopping local intriguing, but the same old tired holiday journalism. I guess I am of the opinion that I would shop local if I could get what I wanted. I can’t. And most agree with me, just look at the latest financial report from the city;
The only retail sales that have weathered the storm is online remote retail in Sioux Falls (which I am thankful for). If this part of sales tax collection was NOT this strong in town, we would be so under water right now, it would be silly.
So why is this? Like I said, finding certain products at local retailers is a challenge, but it is NOT just that. There is the convenience of online shopping, also the speed of delivery is insane. Had a friend recently order a gadget he needed from Amazon and it was in stock at the SF warehouse. He had the piece in 45 minutes. There is also the cost factor. I have bought stuff on Amazon (same quality and brand) for a third of the price of a local retailer.
This is plain and simple economics. People are going to find the best deal. And if I can buy a case of Ramen noodles for a third of the cost of buying the same product at HyVee, which will I choose?
I think local retailers should specialize in unique items you can only get here and stop chasing some Little House on the Prairie merchantile.
But the article gets more juicy when our mayor, who is apparently a Metro-Yeti (c) says this (when talking about participation at the new refrigerated ice rink);
The numbers are “good but not great,” TenHaken said. “And it’s South Dakota. We expect this.”
Well, we should expect it. We also maybe need to be a bit better at powering through it. I’ll acknowledge it’s more convenient for me to sit inside, do phone interviews and write on days like we’ve had lately. But I also criss-crossed the town several times on our snowier days recently and was reminded it’s really not that difficult to go about the day more or less like normal.
“I grew up in Minnesota, and Minnesota learned to embrace winter. It’s in their culture. It’s in their DNA,” TenHaken added. “They have snow vests and Surly Brewing tasting events out in the snow. I think Jacobson Plaza is our first attempt to really embrace winter, and we need to go outside in the winter, whether it’s Great Bear or Jacobson Plaza or the downtown Holiday Plaza. You don’t have to stay inside.”
I know it is rare, but I agree with Paul 1,000%! When it comes to outdoor winter rec in Sux, peeps are gigantic p……………..!!!! GRAND CANYON SIZED!!!!
But, knowing that, why would you dump $16 million into a facility that would rarely get used? I think an indoor/outdoor ice facility would have been a better route and you could have ditched the playground, piss park, dog toilet and hamburger shop for a facility that people would actually use. But that takes vision. Doesn’t it?
The ‘Shop Local’ mantra makes me chuckle, because there is only a handful of developer welfare queens that run this town while stealing your money and making your lives miserable with low wages and crappy taxpayer services.
When I hear the mayor, any mayor, say ‘Shop Local’ in Sioux Falls, I just feel like saying, ‘DUH’ then look for my Amazon login.
Speaking of the Grand Canyon, that Jacobson Plaza is a great facility, but it was built too close to the Falls like so many other things around there. Because there should be a greater green space between Falls Park and the new development around there. The location of Jacobson Plaza makes about as much sense as building a Knott’s Berry Farm next to the Grand Canyon.
As far as a winter culture, that’s always been a problem for Sioux Falls. Only in the last ten plus years has this city begun to embrace youth hockey and enough facilties to accomodate that interest. When my son played youth hockey in the early 2000s in SF, it wasn’t usual to hear about a classmate whose parents signed them up for youth hockey with the league being run out of Luverne because it was a far more pronounced and established reality on that other side of the border.
( and Woodstock adds: “Say, I wonder what ICE would say about people crossing the border to play on ice?” #APlayOnICE 😉 )
Another thing we need to realize is that our population is getting older, and with that comes a definite demographic change or attitude in overall retail. Many don’t know this, but by 2042 World population will begin to decline. Capitalism is dependent upon expanding markets, but when the markets begin to collapse, then capitalism as we know it begins to collapse as well. Maybe A.I. can solve this problem with phony economies, and where its gains are taxed, which people then play off of like playing the stock market or options to replace their lost jobs due to A.I. growth ….. Time will only tell…. Plus, when you scare or deport a community that consists of roughly 8% of your overall population, then how can that not have a negative impact on retail sales and growth in the meantime, too?