By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
Citing future population growth, minimal competition and a variety of scenarios worthy of consideration, an outside marketing consultant has concluded Whitewater could be well poised for a new standalone grocery store in the future.
Early this year, the Whitewater Community Development Authority (CDA) commissioned a study from Northfield, Minn.-based Perkins Marketing Company. The overture from the CDA came on the heels of local grocer Terry Daniels’ decision to close his Sentry store within the city.
Chuck Perkins, who heads the company, looked into Whitewater’s demographics and explored several sites that could be worthy of consideration if a new grocer came into the community.
Perkins’ study supplements a similar community-driven effort spearheaded by Lacey Reichwald, Brienne Diebolt-Brown, council member Stephanie Goettl and CDA Executive Director Patrick Cannon. They are primarily focusing their study on the virtues of a co-operative business model (see related story that will post on Monday, Aug. 22).
Perkins’ study was completed this spring and was recently disclosed publicly by city officials. He laid the groundwork for his review by noting some of the recent shifts in the Whitewater marketplace, including Sentry’s closure in December and neighboring Walmart’s expansion of grocery items.
“There is only one food store open in Whitewater today,” Perkins noted in his report. “When Walmart converted to a Supercenter, the now-shuttered Sentry’s sales plummeted, and profitability was challenged.”
Perkins added, “As happens in such cases where competition is removed from a marketplace, customers react by finding other sources to procure their needs. In this situation, consumers have to drive considerable distances to find alternatives and the lack of convenient competition in town has created an opportunity for new entrants to offer food products.”
Throughout his review, Perkins referred to the Whitewater trade area, which not only encompasses the city itself, but also includes Palmyra and other outlying, neighboring townships in Jefferson, Rock and Walworth counties.
The trade area, he said, currently has a population of 21,941 people, or a 2.1 percent increase from the 2010 Census population. In the next three years, Parkins said the trade area is expected to grow an additional 1.7 percent.
In his study, Perkins suggested Whitewater might be able to host an additional grocer at one five locations. In his test methodology, he asserted the sites could be well poised as conventional supermarkets or as co-operative food stores.
Additionally, Perkins tested the prospect of an existing Winchester True Value hardware store, 1415 W. Main St., expanding its product line and offering groceries.
He said the four standalone sites suited for either a traditional or co-operative grocer included the shuttered Sentry store, 1260 W. Main St., which earlier this month was sold to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Foundation, and land in the 500 block of South Janesville Road, 100 block of North 1st Street and largely undeveloped parcels along Elkhorn Road.
In each of the four location-specific scenarios, Perkins examined such factors as landmass, traffic counts, neighboring developments and current zoning designations.
