Shopko opens doors
The Red Oak Pamida is no longer. With a brand new sign above its doors, the store’s conversion to Shopko is well underway, and a grand opening is scheduled for Jan. 10, 2013.
The Shopko chain purchased the Omaha-based Pamida chain in 2011 and officially merged in January 2012 with the intention of converting all 170 stores across the Midwest and Pacific Northwest into Shopkos, an $80 million venture.
Following the merger, the two chains reviewed all the Pamida stores and concluded six were not performing well enough to merit a conversion. Red Oak was one of those six.
Red Oak City Administrator Brad Wright said they were very disappointed when Shopko decided not to convert the Red Oak store.
However, Shopko Spokesperson Tara Powers said she personally received several phone calls from Red Oak residents urging the corporation to reconsider. After community encouragement and a deal with the City, which included $100,000 in sales tax refunds and a $200,000 forgivable loan from the building’s owner, the Ruth E. Nelson trust, Shopko decided to make a home in Red Oak.
“We felt it was an important piece to maintain for the community, and we didn’t want another empty building,” Wright said. “So we were lucky enough to be able to convince them to remain in Red Oak and convert the store.”
Wright added because of the employment numbers and local option sales tax dollars Shopko will provide to the city, the store is critically important to the community.
“Shopko is one of those anchor stores that will bring people to Red Oak from the local vicinity,” he said. “We hope then that when they are here they will also dine at our restaurants, stop at our gas stations and go to other shops in town.”
Powers said the Red Oak and Glenwood stores, along with around 40 others, are in the final phases of conversion, which began Nov. 25. The entire process will take about four-six weeks, but the store will remain open once the first department is complete Dec. 9. Then, the grand opening, which will feature a ribbon cutting and various prizes and giveaways, will occur Jan. 10.
The conversion process includes basic remodeling, including new paint, carpet and fixtures, along with an entire re-layout of the merchandise.
“Shopko, like Pamida, is a general merchandise store, but it has much more breadth and depth of products with a larger selection and more brand names,” Powers said.
The Wisconsin-based Shopko Corporation, along with Pamida, employs about 20,000 people at its 350 stores across 23 states. When Pamida was purchased, employees at all 170 stores were able to keep their jobs and transition into the new stores. Powers said employees, like those at the Pamida headquarters in Omaha and the stores that closed, were offered other jobs with the company if they were willing to relocate, minamizing the number of jobs lost.
“There will be the same faces and great service that Pamida was known for just in a fresher, more modern store with a great value and more products customers will hopefully enjoy,” she said.
On a national level, the Shopko/Pamida merger, began with a pilot conversion between 2009-2010, in which a few Pamida stores were purchased and converted. Because the pilot study led to positive response, the chain decided to purchase all the Pamidas.
Powers said Shopkos are located in mid-sized communities, but because of high competition, they wanted to add a model for smaller communities. Shopko Hometowns, as the new model is called, feature about 70 percent of the larger stores’ best selling items.
“We noticed there was a void in smaller communities where residents were forced to drive up to an hour away for their shopping,” Powers said. “So we wanted to create a retail model to serve America’s hometowns.”