Dec. 19, 2024

Opening day brought a few surprises for shoppers at Fair Market, which is consolidating its two Sioux Falls retail stores into one on Minnesota Avenue.

Three shipments of new merchandise arrived in time for the first day in business Thursday inside the former Family Dollar at 2511 S. Minnesota Ave.

“Some of it is things we never had at the other two stores,” said Kristin Johnson, who founded Fair Market almost four years ago.

That includes an expanded selection of soft drinks, and “I think across the board we can do more,” she continued. “The fact we don’t have to carry double the inventory is huge, so we can turn that into different types of inventory.”

The store’s location at 523 N. Kiwanis Ave. closed earlier this week. The one at 4510 E. 10th St. will close at a later date.

“The ladies have been working their tails off” to get the new location ready, Johnson said. “I think they will have a whiz-bang first day.”

The expanded space is the latest chapter for a business that has gathered a growing following, bolstered by a dual mission of offering reduced-priced groceries and household items while at the same time keeping products from being thrown away. Many of the items sold were returned to grocery warehouses because of damaged packaging, low volume of sales, rebranding or a nearing expiration date.

“It has continued to grow, and I would say we’re close to 50 percent growth compared to last year,” Johnson said. “So it’s significant.”

Customers particularly gravitate to frozen foods, she said.

“We get all kinds of pizzas and hash browns and meat and vegetables,” Johnson said. “They know they’ve got more shelf life because freezer is a lot more stable, and those things are seen as healthier.”

The expanded space could allow Fair Market to begin offering produce, she said.

“We just haven’t had the setup to deal with it, so we intend to get into it fairly quickly,” she said.

Sourcing products at a reduced cost has gotten easier and will be helped by the larger store, Johnson continued.

“All of these things are sold by the semi-load, so if you can’t move inventory, you’re kind of stuck,” she said. “There will be much faster turnover I think. I know Hy-Vee is right there, but there’s no discount grocery in that part of town. Aldi is on the periphery, and there’s nothing in the center of town.”

While many shoppers are driven to Fair Market in an effort to stretch their budgets, customers also are “starting to latch onto the dual mission,” Johnson said. “This stuff was headed to the landfill. Isn’t that ridiculous. Just in a stewardship sense, it doesn’t make sense, and there’s a lot of people showing up for that piece of it too.”

Johnson said she’s hopeful the gap left by Fair Market on the west side of town might be filled partially by neighboring The Fruit Truck Market, which is getting in touch with some of her vendors.

Finding space in certain parts of town, including the west side, is difficult, she added.

“It’s just unfortunate the space was not a great fit, and there was nowhere for us to go,” she said. “And the two spaces we were in were never meant to be retail.”

The Eat Well Sioux Falls Mobile Market also has launched since Fair Market opened and is positioned to offer lower-cost groceries to underserved areas.

Hours at the new Fair Market store are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.  Saturday. Those hours could expand, “but we just need to get it lined up with employees,” Johnson said. “I am one of the lucky ones that has too many people.”

She’s also not ruling out additional stores in Sioux Falls, though expansion likely is a few years out. Fair Market was acquired by Empower Sioux Falls in 2022 with the goal of continuing to expand its reach and inventory.

“I want to grow and really do it right,” she said. “I guess we’re just in the right space at the right time, and we’re having fun doing it. It’s fun to bring the community this.”