Jim Joynes was one of more than 40 people who stood up and spoke at a special meeting called by the Grand Marais City Council on Monday, February 8 to discuss the possible move by Dollar General to Grand Marais. Joynes, owner of Joynes Ben Franklin, was among the majority who asked the city council to place a moratorium stopping any new buildings being built larger than 4,000 square feet within the city limits for up to 12 months. At its February 10 meeting, the council adopted a moratorium which will give the city time to change its zoning ordinances to reflect the aesthetics of the area and establish other guidelines for signs, landscaping, etc.
In front of an overflow crowd, Grand Marais city councilors listened intently as one person after another stood up and said, “I demand that the Grand Marais city council place a moratorium on any commercial development over 4,000 square feet pending review of the city’s zoning and planning.”
More than 70 people attended the special meeting called by Grand Marais Mayor Jay Arrowsmith DeCoux on Monday, February 8, 2016 following the large turnout for a Grand Marais Planning and Zoning meeting on February 3, where people also showed up to protest against the possible move to Grand Marais by Dollar General.
The message was clear: overwhelmingly people were against the discount chain locating in Grand Marais.
Only three of the more than 45 speakers were in favor of getting more facts about Dollar General before making a decision for or against. Those in favor argued that the store was needed because so many people in the community are low income and the store would offer prices they could more afford. One person also said Dollar General would be open seven days a week, and currently people don’t have anywhere to shop on Sundays in the winter, and during the week store hours are limited at that.
Those against Dollar General didn’t want to see a big box store built near the entrance of Grand Marais (next to the Harbor Light Supper Club) because of aesthetics and some said the large discount chain would have too great a competitive advantage over locally owned businesses.
Petitions for and against
At press time on Wednesday, February 10, a petition started by Lisa Gergets of Grand Marais against Dollar General locating in Grand Marais had 1,411 supporters. When 1,500 signatures are reached she will send it to Todd J. Vasos, CEO of Dollar General.
On February 9, David Johnson of Grand Marais started a separate petition in support of Dollar General. It had 135 supporters as of press time.
What are the options?
Mike Hero, former Cook County/Grand Marais EDA attorney said councilors had three choices. One, they could approve permits to Dollar General; two, they could disapprove the permits and probably end up in court; or three, they could call for a moratorium and come up with “policy decisions based on real evidence,” that could stop franchise stores like Dollar General from locating in town.
Grand Marais native Grant Adams had two requests. One, declare a moratorium and use that as a stop gap to revisit and revise current zoning ordinances, and secondly— and as importantly—said Adams, this would also be good time to explore how to diversify our economy, pull people together and explore ways to grow sustainable small green jobs that pay livable wages. There was a lot of vocal support for Adams’ suggestions.
Following the lengthy meeting council met to discuss options. A moratorium seemed like the best route because it would give the city time to make changes to its zoning ordinances. The council asked City Administrator Mike Roth to contact the city’s attorney, Chris Hood, to draft language calling for a moratorium that councilors could consider at their regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday, February 10.
Councilor Tim Kennedy reminded the council that two property owners could be affected by their decisions and changes to the zoning for their property might affect future sale of their land.
Long time business owner speaks
Jim Joynes, a third generation owner of Joynes Department Store and Ben Franklin was one of many who spoke.
“I am against the Dollar General proposal. I’d like to make a couple of comments about community direction, competition, and regret,” he said.
“There are a number of amazing individuals and organizations moving this town forward. They are promoting diversity, sustainability, and entrepreneurial drive. There are too many to mention, but you know who I’m talking about.
“We are moving forward on the front end, and that’s great, but it feels like the back door was left open. Now, knocking on that door is a wake up call from a disruptive force unlike this town has ever seen before. Its presence in the community will create a paradigm shift in our economics and in the perception of our character. You [city council] must step back and take the time to make sure that what’s being accomplished on the front end is not being destroyed by a threat coming in the back door.”
Unhealthy economic competition
“I’ll be the first one to tell you that friendly competition is healthy. Dollar General is not interested in friendly competition; their shareholders want to make money. Dollar General has a very successful business model. It’s borderline predatory pricing.
“They target small towns, where stores buying product by the dozens can’t compete with their pricing power of buying in lots of 100,000s. The average Dollar General store displaces $1.5 million away from stores already selling the same type of products.
“Our business community is fragile. With loss of revenue, plan on store closings. As you know, store closings create unintended consequences and will send even more negative ripples across our community.
“For me, this is not about my store trying to compete with Dollar General. It’s about the overall health of our business community. My store will feel the pressure, but in the end I firmly believe that my store is only as healthy as our collective group and there are a number of stores directly in their crosshairs. It’s a terrible idea to swap three homegrown entrepreneurs for one corporate entity.
“On that same vein, let’s talk about winter. At Joynes, we intentionally make the bad business decision to stay open in the winter. The fact is we lose money. But, we stay open to keep our valued employees and to service community members and visitors. Additional loss of revenue will force more business to make some tough decisions about whether to reduce hours, reduce staffing, or simply close in the winter. A winter ghost town will also send negative ripples across our community,” said Joynes.
Joynes summed up his statement by noting that he has heard many stories of regret and he quoted a comment from a friend, an Iron Range banker who said he saw banking activity reflect “an obvious chiseling away at the revenues of the local drug stores, hardware stores and grocery stores.”
Joynes said that person urged Grand Marais to not let that happen here. With that, Joynes concluded, “For now, you must close the back door. With the utmost respect, I demand that the city council of Grand Marais place a moratorium on any commercial development over 4,000 square feet pending review of the city’s zoning and planning.”
Who is Dollar General?
Dollar General is located in Goodlettsville, Tennessee. All of its stores are owned by the corporation.
With national retail sales of $18 to $19 billion, Dollar General is a bargain retail chain selling a range of household goods, beauty products, groceries, over-the-counter medicines and more. The corporation tends to locate in economically depressed areas.
Each store typically is open seven days from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. and averages $1.5 million in annual sales. Stores range in size from 7,000 to 10,000 square feet.
As of October 30, 2015, Dollar General operated 12,396 stores in 43 states.
Dollar General doesn’t own its buildings; instead it signs a 10-15 year lease on a building owned by an investor.
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