Prairie Pages Bookseller, the only bookstore in Pierre, South Dakota, has been named by the South Dakota Retailers Association [SDRA] the state’s 2012 retailer of the year. SDRA, a professional organization whose mission is to promote statewide its 3,600 members and the services they provide, will hand out the award to Prairie Pages co-owners Peggy Stout and Kathy Villa at an awards banquet in Pierre on January 9, following the SDRA annual meeting.
South Dakota governor Dennis Daugaard and state legislators are scheduled to attend both the SDRA annual meeting and the awards banquet. While receiving such an award would be an honor in any year, it’s even more appreciated by Stout and Villa after a tumultuous year for both them and for the store, which they founded on September 6, 2006. This past spring, melting snow and record rainfall in Wyoming and Montana caused the Missouri River to overflow, flooding Pierre and several other towns and cities in the Upper Missouri River basin. Prairie Pages closed for eight days in May during the worst of the flooding in Pierre, and Stout herself was homeless for 100 days this past summer.
The city placed two-and-one-half-foot high sandbags in front of stores in downtown Pierre that remained there all summer, hindering access, although wooden stairs on both sides of the sandbags allowed businesses to stay open. “A lot of things were cancelled and tourism was down [all summer],” Stout told PW.“ Stout said that the 1,800-square-foot store carries 15,000 titles and typically grosses $250,000-$300,000 each year, and that sales were down in 2011 “a month’s worth of income.” Happily for the store’s co-owners and their eight part-time employees, sales in December were comparable to last year, ending the year on a positive note.
While Pierre retailers engaged in an aggressive buy local campaign this holiday season to bring back consumers, Prairie Pages went one step further, offering a 20% discount on purchases made every Thursday after Thanksgiving through Christmas, thus enticing customers who otherwise might travel to a larger city on weekends to do their holiday shopping. “All those Thursdays turned out to be good for us,” Stout said, “We may continue this.” Mrs. Claus also visited the store every Saturday and read to children.
The SDRA selects a retailer of the year after soliciting nominations from state residents. Store owners cannot nominate themselves. All nominations are considered by an SDRA selections committee, which makes the final decision. Shawn Lyons, SDRA’s executive director, praised Prairie Pages for “doing what they could to get customers into the store, and coming back” after the Missouri River crested. “They do a tremendous job,” he said, explaining that the honor is competitive and that there were “well over 20-25 nominations” from the store’s employees and customers. “It’s a no-brainer that they were the top choice this year,” he added. “They’re great to their employees, they’re great to their customers. They’re one heck of an operation.”
