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Category Archives: Business
New Grocery Store In Downtown Fort Scott Is Coming
A new grocery store in downtown Fort Scott is on the horizon.
This project is a result of the Strengthening People and Revitalizing Kansas (SPARK) program.
The SPARK Taskforce is charged with leading Kansas forward in recovery from the far-reaching effects of COVID-19, according to the website https://covid.ks.gov/spark-recovery-office/
The Kansas SPARK Committee approved the final pieces of the Bourbon County Spark Plan on Sept. 25.
This Kress Building repurposing addresses access to food, which was one of the issues identified for the SPARK program.
” BAJA Investments, LLC submitted an application which will result in the rehabilitation of the Kress Building located at 17 S Main Street in downtown Fort Scott, into a grocery store,” Bill Michaud, the developer of the project and owner of BAJA Investments, LLC, said.
Featured at the future store will be locally produced co-op food and salad bar/deli, he said.
Additionally, a new resource center to support the needs of the community through COVID-19 pandemic recovery will be located in the rehabilitated Kress Building.
“Prior to the grocery store opening, a collaboration of local community resource agencies will open the BWERC (pronounced B-WORK) which is an acronym for the Bourbon County Workforce and Entrepreneurship Resouce Center,” said Michaud. “This is an exciting collaboration between Kansas Works, (a division of Network Kansas that supports Workforce Development), the SBDC at Pitt State (Small Business Development Center), Fort Scott Community College, and the Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce including the E-Community program — all that together with being coordinated and supported by Bourbon County Economic Development.”
Any inquiries regarding the B-WERC facility services may be directed to Bourbon County Economic Development Director, Jody Hoener at 620.215.5725 or by email at [email protected]
Food Co-op, Deli Meat/Cheese and Salad Bar
“The idea of a downtown grocery store certainly wasn’t an original idea,” Michaud said. “I think there has been discussion of this since the Dollar General moved out of downtown many years ago. I think it’s one of those things that people didn’t realize how convenient it was to have until it was gone.”
“The many issues that have arisen out of the COVID pandemic pushed this need to the forefront and access to healthy food was a stated point of emphasis under the SPARK program,” he said.
“One feature we are planning is the food co-op for locally grown produce and other food products,” he said. “We are going to provide a local outlet for as many ‘produced in Bourbon County’ products as possible.”
“We hope to become a resource to connect local producers with the market of consumers and restaurants who are looking for fresh, locally grown products,” Michaud said.
“Secondly we are offering to partner with CHC/SEK so that they may expand the food delivery service that they offer to the homebound, elderly and other underserved populations in Crawford County, into Fort Scott,” he said. “The new store will provide storage for donated food items for delivery and supplement the needs of the clientele by making additional food items available.”
The pandemic has caused some nationwide unemployment, which leads to increased food insecurities, some driven by lack of transportation, Michaud noted.
“So adding to the food supply downtown and in northwest Fort Scott will help address that need for residents of that part of town,” he said. “In recent years, the increased downtown housing development has further increased the need for a downtown grocery store.”
“That increase in residential housing, the lack of food supply to residents west of 69 highway and the great opportunity for partnerships to support local produce and other small businesses make this an investment in our community and in our downtown … a project I thought was worth pursuing,” Michaud said.
What’s Happening in Fort Scott
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Health Insurance Plan Being Formulated For Small Business Owners in Bourbon County
Many small businesses do not have the ability to offer health insurance to their employees, some have the ability but would like to look at other options.
The Fort Scott Chamber of Commerce has been working on a plan to help that situation.
An association health plan through the Chamber is being formulated to help members to be able to offer Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance to their employees.
“Our hope is that this will be beneficial to particularly smaller mom and pop, locally owned businesses who are not otherwise able to obtain or offer health insurance as an employee benefit which would also help recruit and retain employees,”Chamber Executive Director Lindsay Madison said. “A business just needs to have one full-time employee and one part-time employee, at a minimum, to be able to participate in the plan.”
“We currently have 44 potential contracts represented by those who have completed the survey (see the survey link below),” she said. “We need at least 50 to move forward with putting together plans and pricing.”
“If your business is at all interested in this type of health insurance offering or at least seeing what plans and rates will be offered,
please complete the survey link below as soon as possible,” Madison said.
“If the employer already has employee info on a spreadsheet, they can submit that,” Madison said.
The survey was first sent out to Chamber members in May, she said.
“We would like people to send as soon as possible, by Sept. 30. Companies can still come on board beyond that date, but we need a cut-off date.”
Click here:
The Chamber is formulating this plan through member and local insurance representative Don Doherty of
Northwestern Mutual Life, RPS Benefits, Inc.
“Information on the attached (below) is what the employer will need to complete on the survey, so they could have their employees complete this form, or provide this information in an Excel format to Blue Cross Blue Shield. They would send the information directly to Donna Pashman of BCBS of KS, email [email protected],” Madison said.
“If businesses are already on BCBS and have interest in seeing what the Chamber plans and pricing will be, they can email Donna and simply reference the Fort Scott Chamber Plan, Business Name, and current BCBS member number,” she said.
The survey link is also currently on the Chamber website fortscott.com under the Events tab.
Price Chopper Building Still On The Market
There has been some recent activity at the former Price Chopper Supermarket on South Main.
Equipment in the store has been taken out.
“We have been working on taking all of the equipment out to remodel a store in Overland Park,” said Barry Queen, the owner.
The store closing was devastating to the Fort Scott community and Queen.
“It closed in January of 2019 after just being open a little over a year because business was really soft, compared to projections.”
“I hate it, I’ve had a lakehouse at lake Ft. Scott for 20 years and love the community,” he said.
“It is owned by Associated Wholesale Grocers,” Queen said. “I am on a 20-year lease and still paying rent/taxes/insurance/utilities/etc…(I would) love it if you can help us sell it and get me out of the rent.”
The commercial building, located at 2322 S. Main, is for sale or lease, with the owners willing to split into smaller parcels, according to information provided by Jody Hoener, Bourbon County’s Economic Director. If the purchaser is retail, there is a TIF/CID in place that will transfer to the new owner. If not a retailer, the purchase price can be negotiated without incentive.
The 39, 425 square foot building is on 4.5 acres. There is carve out pad site availability.
The building was fully renovated in 2017.
Queen’s phone number is 913-220-2515.
Click below for the announcement of the closing in January 2019:
FORT SCOTT PRICE CHOPPER TO CLOSE DOORS
Click below for photos of the store opening in Dec. 2017:
SPARK Bourbon County Update
The Strengthening People and Revitalizing Kansas (SPARK) Taskforce is charged with leading Kansas forward in recovery from the far-reaching effects of COVID-19.
The SPARK Executive and Steering Committees, in conjunction with the Office of Recovery team, are responsible for the statewide distribution of the Coronavirus Relief Fund.
The following is an update from Jody Hoenor, Bourbon County Economic Development Director:
The Bourbon County SPARK Program has reached a number of milestones to this date. All applications have been reviewed in each of the established categories. In addition, a Business/Not for Profit grant program has been completed. The Bourbon County Commission has tentatively approved applications after a vetting process.
The Kansas Office of Recovery has reviewed the plan and has requested additional information. A Technical Assistance Advisor has also been assigned to the County as part of the approval process.
It is the goal of the Commissioners to have full approval of the County Plan no later than September 25, 2020. At that time all recipients will be notified of their award along with a Memorandum of Agreement which articulates the terms and conditions of the awards. Checks will be issued by the County upon receipt of the Agreements.
Fort Cinema Gets Creative In Offerings
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on movie theaters throughout the nation.
It has also impacted Fort Cinema, located at 224 W. 18th.
“We have lost 70% of our revenue during the same time frame from a year ago,” Brent Cavin, who has worked and managed the theater since 2007, said. “Blockbuster movies continue to be pushed back by studios.”
In spite of this, the cinema owners have had community support.
“The community has been great about supporting us with purchasing of concessions and gift cards. We take it as a sign that our citizens want to make sure the theater remains in Fort Scott.”
Cavin is co-owner of Anderson and Cavin LLC, with his brother-in-law, Chris Anderson, and they have been in talks with the current theater owners, Des and Amanda Hale, about purchasing the theater, he said.
Recently they introduced video game rentals on the big screen.
“It is $100 for two hours, $50 per additional hour,” Cavin said.
Participants must bring in a console that has wireless control to use on the big screen.
“We’ve hosted multiple parties already for: MarioKart, FortNite and Super Smash Brothers,” he said. “The parties are a great way to gather with family and friends.”
The business has been practicing measures to ensure safety for its customers.
The theater requires employees to wear masks during customer interaction, they have put seating gaps in the viewing parties and they “deep sanitize” all heavy traffic areas in-between shows and while open, he said.
“The (gaming) initiative was created as a means to provide a safe environment to gather and have fun during a pandemic,” he said. ” We have had a few parties already that asked privately if they could connect a console to our projectors. When we realized that the content looked incredible on our screen we decided to go public with the idea. We have had a lot of success with opening our theater to private movie parties in the last few months and wanted to expand upon that premise.”
Rentals take place outside of normal business hours, Monday through Thursday. A theater can be rented anytime before 4 p.m. or after 8:30 p.m. On Friday through Sunday, they can be rented anytime before 1:30 p.m. or after 8:30 p.m.
Video game rental prices are $100 for two hours, with additional hours at $50 an hour.
Any wireless controller console can work, and WiFi is available for online gaming.
The cinema also offers theater rentals for movies: Classic movies are $100, new releases are $200.
“I would also like the public to know that we are open every day of the week with new movies again,” Cavin said.
Contact on Fort Cinema Facebook page via Messenger, or call (620) 223-3366 during the business hours of 6:00 to 9:00 nightly.
Fund Raiser For Gordon Parks High School Kicks Off
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Chamber Quarterly Downtown Meet and Greet Oct. 6
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Fort Scott Pizza Hut Closes Permanently
A call to the Fort Scott Pizza Hut revealed that the store at 1801 S. Main is permanently closed.
“On August 17, (2020) NPC (the company that operates Pizza Hut) announced that it reached an agreement with Pizza Hut that would allow NPC to close up to 300 of our Pizza Hut restaurants,” Columbia Clancy replied in response to an email to corporate headquarters. “Since that time, we have finalized our plan for next steps and after careful analysis and consideration, NPC has moved forward with closing a number of those Pizza Hut locations (including the Fort Scott, KS restaurant), effective September 8.”
“As part of our restructuring process, we made the very difficult decision to close the Fort Scott Pizza Hut restaurant,” according to a NPC spokesperson. ” We did not take this decision lightly, and we are committed to providing support to impacted employees, including providing transfer to other NPC or Yum! Brand locations, wherever possible. Ultimately, these actions will best position our remaining restaurant business for success. NPC continues to operate many other Pizza Hut restaurants across the country which remain open for business, supported by our 23,000 dedicated employees who are ready to serve our customers.”
Click here for more info:
The following link is a AP story on the closings of Pizza Huts around the country:
Human Resource Conference Offered
What’s Happening in Fort Scott
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