Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Looks like Bi-Mart’s on its way

Unless something untoward happens, it looks like Sisters will have a Bi-Mart store in a few months.

The company filed an application for a minor modification on the former Ray’s site last week (see this week’s Nugget page 1 or www.nuggetnews.com).

It’s going to be interesting to see what the reaction is. Bi-Mart is a chain and some folks really don’t like the idea of chain stores in Sisters. Of course, Ray’s is a chain, too, and nobody seems to mind having a supermarket...

I think that Bi-Mart is the best thing that could happen at ThreeWind Shopping Center. It’s a Northwest company, employee-owned and a contributor to its communities. It carries goods that we’d otherwise be going to Bend for.

It’ll compete with some of our existing stores, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, though the thought of going up against a big player surely makes some folks in town nervous. Competition usually makes everyone better.

The worst thing that could happen out there is blight — a dead or dying shopping center right along Highway 20 wouldn’t do anybody a lick of good.

A solid store with an updated and improved Western facade will look good, stimulate business for Radio Shack and Coyote Creek and fill a need in Sisters. Sounds good to me.

Jim Cornelius, Editor

3 comments:

  1. The new Ray's was going to have a pharmacy, but from what I hear, they opted out since they didn't want to put the pharmacy at Sister's Drug and Gift out of business. The plan is for this Bi-Mart to have a pharmacy. If that happens, it will be interesting to see what the competition does for both.

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  2. Having Bi-Mart in Sisters will actually help me support the locals a lot better. I find that when forced to travel to Bend or Redmond for items not carried in Sisters, that I end up spending my hard earned dollars in that town. I will utilize my gas and time and 'just get everything done' as long as I had to go to Bend or Redmond anyway. I think a lot of people will look at it in the same way. Bi-Mart never comes into a town to 'put the locals out of business'. I feel they will contribute to the community and being 'employee owned' it will infact help to boost the moral here

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  3. I agree with Sue. If you go to all the time and trouble (especially in winter) to drive to Bend because you need a product that neither Ray's nor Sister's Drug carry, you bet I'm going to get all my shopping / errands done in Bend. With Bi-Mart in town, it will allow us to shop locally and get good deals on items we would not otherwise have access to in Sisters. I have always felt that competition is a good thing (just look at how many banks, insurance companies and similar services there are in our little town - I don't think they are suffering too much). I am thankful that finally we have a choice of where we want to shop. Our local merchants have been good to the community and supported many activities and events and I appreciate what they have done for Sisters, and I look forward to Bi-Mart being one of them.

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