10/1/14

Menards forces closure of Pierre family store



Pierre is the Fort Pierre of Hughes County.

Bryan Rice has a right to be pissed at Mayor Laurie Gill and has chosen to leave the shit hole town without a home improvement store until earth hater-owned Menards is finished building next door sometime next year after another brutal winter.
The store has also been unfortunate to be along Garfield Avenue, which has been under heavy reconstruction for the past four months [to build the fucking Menards]. Still, the closing is a bitter pill to swallow, because in the past 102 years Knecht has only closed two locations. The store will make sure customers will have ready access to employees and supplies for any current projects and will support projects that extend past mid-November from its Rapid City location. [David Rookhuyzen, Pierre Capital Journal]
Menards, whose policies include issuing anti-democratic propaganda, pays its employees subsistence wages while massaging its margins in under-served markets like Rapid City and Scottsbluff, Nebraska.

O'Fallon, Missouri has been passed over according to a local media outlet:
The company is blaming the Obama administration for the project’s failure. A Menards spokesperson says the company no longer plans on adding a store in O’Fallon, Missouri because of the President’s economic policies.
John Menard is one of the country's richest white men contributing to earth haters like John Thune and Michele Bachmann while joining with Koch Industries in forcing primaries against those resisting its advances.
Menards and CEO John Menard have been cited for dozens of environmental code violations; in 1997 Menard and his company were fined $1.7 million when Menard himself was found to have used “his own pickup truck to haul plastic bags filled with chromium and arsenic-laden wood ash to his own home for disposal along with his household trash,” according to Milwaukee.--Adele M. Stan at AlterNet.
Gill is not only the mayor, she works for the embattled Daugaard administration, too.

Is this a great country or what?

Good call, Bryan: fuck 'em all but six then make them your pallbearers.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Larry interesting link from the Milwaukee paper about John Menard but why does it not surprise me?

Thank you posting about Menards before and how they cross the line with their employees politically besides being another model for government subsidized profits to pay shit wages and benefits. I've stopped doing business there though I've done most of my shopping at local family owned lumber yards anyways.

Lynn

larry kurtz said...

Thanks for the comment, Lynn: did you notice in the Aberdeen paper that Hobby Lobby forced the closure of a hometown business there, too?

Anonymous said...

I did notice that in the Aberdeen American News. Kleins is like a fixture of Aberdeen and there were many kids that are now adults that would shop in there after saving their pennies, dimes and quarters to buy things they were interested in. What a shame! I'm sure Super Walmart helped weaken their business over the years.

Anonymous said...

Doesn't some of the blame of the store's closing due to customers making a decision to purchase items at the new stores, in this case Menards?

Walmart alone did not weaken the business, the customers who made the decision to spend their money at Walmart also weakened the business.

larry kurtz said...

Boycott Walmart.

Aberdeen is struggling to maintain her downtown while Presentation is considering a dome where people can gather in the sun in the depths of winter.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous 11:57

Your right it's the customers that ultimately make the choice where they will spend their dollars. Take for example the locally owned grocery stores or especially Kens. There is a price difference from Walmart to those local stores and there is no way they can compete against the buying power of Walmart in prices but the quality on many goods, produce and meats are definitely better at Ken's or Kesslers and the service is better. Look at how long the employees stay at Kens. It is a career for many of them and there is practically no turnover and that reflects on the living wages and benefits they are paid. Which businesses are more closely tied to the communities in how they give to the community? Kens? Kesslers? Walmart? Then think about how many dollars stay in the community in a comparison. There are a number of factors at play and for some people on the edge financially I can't blame them for shopping at Walmart, Menards or other Big Box stores but when possible there are other things to consider. Aberdeen is just one community that is impacted among many.

Lynn

Menards Black said...

Menards, whose policies include issuing anti-democratic propaganda, pays its employees ... menardsblack.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

We love having Menard's in town!! The Capital Journal article announcing the closure of Knecht's, a store official said they were in the red with the Pierre location. He said they were going to close the store regardless of Menard's coming to town. Get your facts straight you bunch of liars!!

larry kurtz said...

Pierre is a company town and deserves to be shafted by out of state assholes like John Menard. Die in a pool of your own piss.

larry kurtz said...

Now Hobby Lobby has opened in Pierre further shafting local businesses.

Anonymous said...

Larry-
$$$ were leaving Pierre....fairly simple concept. Life is too short to be so bitter!!!