Losing Green River’s Shopko Hometown store was certainly a blow to many residents throughout the city, but we believe the city will ultimately thrive once a new business makes use of the property.
The space has long been a spot for a small-scale department store. Prior to Shopko, the building was a Pamida, which retained the name until 2013 after Shopko completed a merger with the company. In our view, the location is perfect for the same commercial use it has seen under Shopko and Pamida. It isn’t hard to see a Hobby Lobby or Target occupying that space, even if those specific shops are little more than wishful thinking on our part.
A more important concern to address is the fact that Green River’s economy is not the reason for Shopko’s impending closure. We agree with Kayla McDonald of the Sweetwater Economic Development Coalition when she says Shopko, like K-Mart, Hastings and other national chains, suffered from a failure to anticipate online retail and its growing impact. The decisions impacting Shopko in Green River are made at the corporate level because of chain-wide problems, not because Green River failed to support the business.
The same can be said for J. C. Penney, Herbergers, K-Mart, Hastings and others in Rock Springs. Sweetwater County’s residents did not suddenly stop supporting those businesses. Outside pressures led to their closures. In some cases, other businesses have moved in to the vacancies left by those closures. We think the same will be true for the Shopko building. While it won’t happen overnight, but we believe we will see something move into that space.
Green River isn’t dying. While someone may point to vacant storefronts along Flaming Gorge Way or the impending Shopko closure as proof otherwise, We believe SEDC will aid the city in bringing new business to the area, just as we believe the residents’ entrepreneurial spirit will help fill those storefronts. Admittedly, we’ve been skeptical of SEDC in the past, but our recent conversation with McDonald, as well as the discussions opened up between McDonald and the city once news of Shopko’s closure broke show us Green River is on the organization’s radar. We’re also hopeful because City Administrator Reed Clevenger has shown himself to be committed to the city’s economic future, having an active role in promoting Green River.
While we are losing a Shopko in the coming months, we think the future is still bright in Green River. We’re looking forward to what comes next.
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