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Old 07-12-2013, 08:12 AM
 
Location: Sioux Falls, SD area
4,829 posts, read 6,839,636 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ElkHunter View Post
What part is getting tougher? Employee wages, taxes, materials, city/town growth potential ??????? Are you able to pinpoint it, or is it kind of across the board?

I started a business in Wyoming, in 1992 building Post Frame Steel Buildings. I thought if I built one building a month for the first year, I'd be off to a good start. At the end of the first year, I had 360 buildings up. I knew the growth potential of the county and I also knew I was going to saturate, so I sold the business. The new owner went bankrupt and the IRS chained his doors, not 6 months later.

3 years later, some of the County "Fathers" stepped down from their positions and the flood gates opened. Now there are 4 of those building manufacturers in the area and all 4 are going strong. Bottom line is, what works this year, may not work next year, but may work the year after. You have to keep your thumb on the pulse of everything going on and it makes it tough for the small business owner.

As a business owner in South Dakota, is the state pretty level, or does it come and go?
We're losing our home owned businesses. You can look around everywhere and find companies that were once a thriving independent business that is struggling thanks to the proliferation of the big national chain stores. If these chains (best example, but by no means exclusive being Wal-Mart) were allowed to come in and compete against local business on a level playing field it would be better. Instead, the different government entities hand out tax incentives and fall all over themselves pushing through rezoning and water/sewer special benefits to these guys. They tell themselves that it's to provide jobs and the future property taxes paid by the chain stores. What's really happening is you're once again lowering overall income for your citizens. With the locally owned businesses, all the money stays local. That's not even close to the case with the big chains.

Now how about the businesses that sell to the non-local national company vs the locally owned company. They lose out too. How many towns around the state have a very large manufacturing company that doesn't so much as buy a paper clip locally and once was locally owned. They now utilize central purchasing. It's the home cities of these companies where the purchasing is done for most all of their branches. It's Chicago, New York City, and increasingly the Bejings of the world who make these sales.

I can't count how many customers I've lost over the last 10 years due to a local business being swallowed up by a much larger out of state AND out of country company.

I believe it's more prevalent here than many other parts of the United States.
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Old 07-12-2013, 10:27 AM
 
Location: Spots Wyoming
18,700 posts, read 41,909,179 times
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I certainly understand that, and it's too bad. Where I live we saw a lot of "mom and pop" business go away, or dry up, when WalMart opened it's doors. Some stayed and after about 5 years people realized what kind of products they were getting and they started going back to "mom and pop". At least enough for "mom and pop" to recover some what.

Then WalMart became a "Super Center" and again it happened, the small stores started to crumble. Now we've had Home Depot move into town so once again, we're seeing the little stuff go away. It's sad.
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Old 07-12-2013, 01:14 PM
 
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Speaking from a sparsely populated, pretty darn bare main street, I don't know that these big national chains did all the damage we think. Mom & pop grocery stores were first hammered by the mid-size chain or "food centers", many of which are family owned. The mid sizers themselves, are NOW falling prey to the big boys. The same is true for small town hardware stores, multi store groups, oftentimes locally owned, led to the demise of the independent. Local owned gas stations get bought up by the local co-op, who then merges with a big outfit, with the local board approving it! Bars/lounges,usually the first ones in & the last one out are also struggling, not because of the big boy competitor, but every quick stop/gas station now sells libation of some variety. By the way, there are a lot of these small town businesses that themselves buy at these warehouse type stores & resell at profit.

Myself, coming from a family of small business people think some of the problem is with business models & expectations. I also think sometimes all of this is a sign of the times, life & the way things are done is evolving & not necessarily for the better. I still see the potential for things to come somewhat full circle though, so I'm just hanging on for the ride.
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Old 07-12-2013, 01:56 PM
 
Location: Spots Wyoming
18,700 posts, read 41,909,179 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GDUBLU View Post
Speaking from a sparsely populated, pretty darn bare main street, I don't know that these big national chains did all the damage we think. Mom & pop grocery stores were first hammered by the mid-size chain or "food centers", many of which are family owned. The mid sizers themselves, are NOW falling prey to the big boys. The same is true for small town hardware stores, multi store groups, oftentimes locally owned, led to the demise of the independent. Local owned gas stations get bought up by the local co-op, who then merges with a big outfit, with the local board approving it! Bars/lounges,usually the first ones in & the last one out are also struggling, not because of the big boy competitor, but every quick stop/gas station now sells libation of some variety. By the way, there are a lot of these small town businesses that themselves buy at these warehouse type stores & resell at profit.

Myself, coming from a family of small business people think some of the problem is with business models & expectations. I also think sometimes all of this is a sign of the times, life & the way things are done is evolving & not necessarily for the better. I still see the potential for things to come somewhat full circle though, so I'm just hanging on for the ride.
Here in Wyoming, we didn't see the middle step. Our mom and pop grocery stores were open until after WalMart went Super Center. Also, our convienience stores do not sell beer, so every liquor store and bar that was here 40 years ago, is still here. But I can understand the middle step in the big towns of South Dakota. Having been raised in a small town in South Dakota, we didn't have any convienience stores.
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Old 07-15-2013, 01:38 PM
 
Location: Sector 001
15,932 posts, read 12,196,344 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by uncleharley View Post
That is great, but I have learned to question everything that CNBC comes up with. For instance they rank S D 30th in education. Is that a sign of smart spending or just being cheap?

uh

For what it's worth someone who moved here from the Chicago suburbs in high school to Flandreau was so much further ahead than the other students that she was taking AP classes and getting college credits and breezing through everything. I'd say those statistics are probably fairly accurate.

South Dakota is said to be providing some tax incentives to get the company that I work for to expand the plant that is here, rather than expand overseas which was an option that was considered for them. These types of things are a positive that will attract businesses.

If I wasn't making $20 per hour working where I do I'd be out of here though. Brookings is a cold climate and only the good job keeps me living here.. I doubt I could find $20 per hour work in other areas at this point in our economy... however I would not take some of the other $10-12 factory work in town.. I'd move and start over somewhere else first and find work... Florida, maybe Oregon or Missouri.
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Old 07-15-2013, 01:59 PM
 
Location: Sioux Falls, SD area
4,829 posts, read 6,839,636 times
Reputation: 10118
Quote:
Originally Posted by stockwiz View Post
For what it's worth someone who moved here from the Chicago suburbs in high school to Flandreau was so much further ahead than the other students that she was taking AP classes and getting college credits and breezing through everything. I'd say those statistics are probably fairly accurate.

South Dakota is said to be providing some tax incentives to get the company that I work for to expand the plant that is here, rather than expand overseas which was an option that was considered for them. These types of things are a positive that will attract businesses.

If I wasn't making $20 per hour working where I do I'd be out of here though. Brookings is a cold climate and only the good job keeps me living here.. I doubt I could find $20 per hour work in other areas at this point in our economy... however I would not take some of the other $10-12 factory work in town.. I'd move and start over somewhere else first and find work... Florida, maybe Oregon or Missouri.
You mention that your employer is possibly going to receive tax incentives to expand in Brookings. THAT is who should be getting these breaks from local and state governments if necessary. Give incentives to the Daktronics and Larson Manufacturing companies of the area to be profitable and continue keeping their home offices here. Don't throw out money to large companies who when they arrive, will most likely put several other local companies out of business. What was gained?

I do believe as a state, we actually do pretty well in this balancing act. Some of our local municipalities get a grade of D or F when it comes to using their head towards attracting the kind of businesses that benefit the community.
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