Residents in St. John and travelers along U.S. Hwy 281 will soon have a new place to shop as the Dollar General draws closer to opening the St. John store, but better yet St. John will have one new employer in the city limit.
“We are supposed to take possession of the store on Mar. 8,” said branch manager Candie Gamble.
Gamble, a 15-year employee with Dollar General is from Neola. She did not say how many people the store would employee, but they will begin taking applications from 10 a.m.-2 p.m this Friday Feb. 26 at their Pratt store at 1310 East First Street.
Development on the new location north of Joe’s Motor Service on the corner of U.S. Hwy 281 and First Street began in April of 2008 when a convoy of flatbed semi trucks dropped off truckloads of building materials. Blair Merchant, a developer from New Mexico broke the news to reporters from the St. John News, that Dollar General had contracted him to develop stores in Meade, Coldwater and St. John.
Actual construction on the site did not start for a few months while the other two locations were being constructed.
The stores in Meade and Coldwater are currently open, and now almost a year to the date of when a convoy of semis blew in on a stormy night, Dollar General is coming to fruition.
“Once they release the store to us, we have 7-12 days to set the store, stock shelving get employees in place and get ready to open,” Gamble said. “We will have a grand opening celebration later. They always do something big for that.”
If things stay on schedule the new location could be open for business as soon as Mar. 20.
