Small-Town Retailers Struggle To Slow Flight Of Farm Dollars

For some small-town merchants, farmers shop too much in Spokane.

Chuck Berg, owner of the Wilbur Department Store, says sales have dropped 15 percent in the past two years at his tiny store 70 miles west of Spokane. He attributes the change to an increasing desire among farmers and other customers to travel to Spokane.

“They make a big weekend out of it, spend the night,” says Berg, who cut his staff from three to one full-time person. “What I can’t give them, they got to go to city to get. I’ve been banging my head trying to figure out what I’ve done wrong.”

At 3,500 square feet, the tiny Wilbur Department Store doesn’t have the space to showcase all the clothes and housewares found at NorthTown Mall or Costco, Berg says.

And prices in Spokane often are lower, making up the cost of the trip, says Eric Zakarison, a Pullman wheat and cattle farmer.

“We can save quite a bit of money over shopping at stores in Pullman,” Zakarison says. “I think that’s true of most farmers who live within 100 miles of Spokane.”

Many farmers say they intentionally buy some goods at local stores to help keep them in business. But others take all of their business to the big city.

“Some people never come to our store, I wouldn’t recognize them if they walked in,” says Berg, who estimates he has 2,000 potential customers in Wilbur and surrounding communities. “It’s sort of a sad thing. It’s what kills small towns.”

Sales to tourists, recreation enthusiasts and gamblers on their way to tribal casinos are helping business, Berg says.

Local merchants also participate in “shop-at-home” promotions, including the annual midnight madness sale. Lucky customers win discounts by rolling dice.

, DataTimes