MOUNDRIDGE, Kansas -- Other than sharing the 67107 zip code, local businesses here didn't necessarily have a whole lot in common. But when Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart Stores opened a supercenter 13 miles south of town in Newton in 2003 and six months later followed that with another supercenter 13 miles north in McPherson, Moundridge merchants found they were more similar than they wanted to be.
"Wal-Mart hurt us all," explained Dave Frazer, owner of the Moundridge Food Market IGA, a 15,000-square-foot grocery store.
For Frazer, who for a decade has led the family-run business, Wal-Mart's blow was especially hard: He figures the twin Wal-Mart openings cost between 14% and 16% of the store's total sales. "We lost about $10,000 a week in volume, which is a lot for a small store," he said.
Around town, others felt the pinch too, Frazer said, and that inspired him to encourage local merchants to meet and discuss their collective losses and a strategy for winning shoppers back. The result is a newspaper called The Moundridge Marketplace, which highlights local businesses and their contributions to the community and, Frazer said, has become an effective medium in the effort to win back sales.
The newspaper, which launched in June of last year, features a different business every other month -- a furniture store in the most recent issue and a hardware store in the next -- along with a community events calendar and updates of business-related news. It also serves as a vehicle to promote local shopping overall in a way that helps all area merchants.
"I think it's really helped some," Frazer said. "We've gotten a lot of good comments on it."
The newspaper serves all merchants by using themes common to all local merchants -- for example, the benefits of local sales taxes, and with gasoline prices on the rise, the costs of traveling out of town to shop.
"We've posted signs in our store saying 'Why Drive?"' Frazer said. "The government has said it costs 30 or 33 cents a mile to drive -- using that, we figured it cost someone $15 bucks to pay for the groceries they get over there [at Wal-Mart]."
The idea of a newspaper came to life after a local merchant offered access to inexpensive printing. "We formed a group of business people, and at our first meeting the question was 'What are we going to do?' We had a source to get the newspaper printed. It wasn't too expensive, so we tried it and it seemed to have worked."
The most difficult part, Frazer said, was getting everyone together. "A lot of businesses don't want to work with other businesses, but we all had the same needs," he said. "If you get your community together pulling in the same direction, you're a lot better off than fighting all by yourself."
Since the paper launched, Frazer said the sales decline of 15% has been reduced to around 4%. "[Wal-Mart] stopped our growth, but I think we can get that back if we keep chipping at it."
Frazer has also applied creative ideas inside his store, focusing on those areas he feels Wal-Mart has the most difficulty matching. Other than going "a little hotter" on the store's high-low pricing, he said he largely left prices alone and attacked on quality and service in perishables. He's also added ice cream, pizza and hamburgers to the deli.
"Our deli is our biggest draw and accounts for around 18% of our total business," he said. "We also have a floral shop that's done well.
"Center store groceries is where Wal-Mart's really kicked our butt. But we're working on it, and it's looking positive."
