Loren and Regena Lance are contemplating duplicating what they have done to the Mildred Store in Allen County, in downtown Fort Scott. They have a grocery store in the town of Mildred, population 26.
See the end of this feature for how to give input to the Lance’s.
“Loren and I purchased the Mildred Store six years ago this coming June,” Regena Lance said. “We purchased the existing store because we saw a community need. We have taken a store in the middle of basically nowhere and made it a hub to the community and developed it into a destination business.”
“We feel after nearly six years in business we have an idea of how to be competitive and provide a great service to our community,” she said. “We would hope to be able to duplicate this in Fort Scott, if we decide to pursue this opportunity.”
Mildred Store is known for sandwiches and live music that happens monthly.
” Several people from Fort Scott visit our Mildred Store, especially on the third Saturday of the month which is our ‘Music Night’ and had commented on how nice it would be to have a store like this in the downtown area of Fort Scott,” Regena said.
“After thinking it over and discussing it with employees of the city of Fort Scott, we have decided to give it further consideration,” she said.
“The situation in Fort Scott is similar to what we saw in Mildred,” Regena said. “There is a need in a community that could be fulfilled by a small store that stocks all the basic goods and a few specialty items. We are not trying to compete with any other existing businesses in Fort Scott just hoping to fill a void that has become apparent in the downtown area.”
Location
No location has been determined yet, she said, but the future grocery store would be in downtown Fort Scott.
When
“If we do decide to move forward with this venture we will be looking a late spring start up,” she said.
Community Input Sought
“We are looking for community input on what they would like to see in a future store, as far as staple goods, store hours and any other possible suggestions,” Regena said. ” We would like to invite anyone interested to come visit the Mildred Store to see how we could model a new store off of our existing one. Mildred Store is open seven days a week Monday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.”
“Music night is this Saturday night starting at 6:30 if anyone is interested in coming to see what’s happening in Mildred,” she said.
To comment ideas for staple goods and store hours, use the store’s Facebook page: Mildred Store or call the store at 620-439-5424.