SBA approves loan package for new Du Quoin grocery
At 6 p.m. Monday night, Tom and Beverly Schmutz, owners of Bottom Dollar Cost Plus foodliners in Southern Illinois, got the call they had been waiting two months for--the call from a St. Louis bank confirming that their $650,000 loan package for their new store in the Du Quoin Kroger building has been approved.
Except for Tom Schmutz, a handful of Bottom Dollar personnel, contractors and wholesalers, the large 25,000 sq. ft. Kroger building has been shuttered for the past nine months with no signs of life and no signs of a new store.
That all changed on Monday," said Schmutz in a Tuesday afternoon telephone conversation. It would have been much harder to bring the store to Du Quoin without the SBA package.
"It came quick," said Schmutz. "The SBA had only had the loan package for about 10 days. They had four or five questions that we answered. They always do," he said.
"We will close the loan on Thursday, March 5," said Schmutz on Tuesday and work on the Du Quoin project will be ramped up just as soon as the ribbon is cut March 21 on yet another store--the sixth store--they are developing in nearby Herrin.
The couple also owns and operates Tom's Mad Pricer in West Frankfort, Ill., the Bottom Dollar Cost Plus store in Lebanon, Ill., Tom's Supermarket in Brighton, Ill. and Tom's Priced Right Foods in McLeansboro, Ill.
While work on the Du Quoin project is well under way behind the scenes, there should be substantial signs of life in Du Quoin's Southtowne Shopping Center by late March or early April. No date has been set for the opening of the Du Quoin store.
400 applied for jobs at herrin grocery store
Schmutz said Bottom Dollar Cost Plus held a two-day jobs fair at the Herrin store--formerly a 15,000 square foot Mad Pricer. He said there were over 400 applicants for jobs at the Herrin store. He said the turnout was both a positive event for the town, but also what he called "heartbreaking" in that so many people in Southern Illinois are unemployed and desperately need jobs.
"We will probably do the same thing--a jobs fair--for the Du Quoin store," he said. There is no date for that event at this writing.
The couple will lease the Kroger building and equipment from John Hunzeker, property manager for the Sunset Hills, Mo. based Lindbergh Watson Company. Hunzeker unlocked the Kroger building for the new tenant in January. They both liked what they saw.
The Du Quoin city council Dec. 19 approved an agreement placing in an escrow account for one year a $150,000 line of credit to wholesale food suppliers as a payment guarantee as part of the security for the plan.
Of that, $100,000 will come from the Coal Belt Champion Communities program and $50,000 from the City of Du Quoin revolving loan fund. These funds are not an expenditure, but are instead a guarantee.
The city will also co-sponsor a local bank loan in the amount of $130,000 which will be paid back from revenues from the newly created Du Quoin business district tax. The tax revenues are a perfect fit for this project.
It will provide the capital for any interior and exterior modifications to the building as well as signage.
The bulk of the capital for the new store will come from the $650,000 Small Business Administration (SBA) loan provided through a large St. Louis bank.
Schmutz trademarked the name "Bottom Dollar Cost Plus Foods" and sells groceries the way no one else does. He's part of a large "share group" which purchases national brands at the lowest possible price. The price you see on the item is the price he paid for it. At checkout, you pay what he paid--plus a flat 10 percent to cover the store's costs. No games.
Schmutz recently named Steve Beard as the store manager. , Du Quoin native and assistant manager Mark Miller and assistant manager Margaret Smith will head the Du Quoin team.
It takes a lot to put a store like this together. He shared the schedule for opening the Herrin store with the newspaper. Groceries will begin arriving this Friday and that work will continue throughout next week alongside stocking shelves with Costco items. Health inspector Chris Kane will be at the store March 6, followed by setting of dairy, frozen foods and frozen meats. There will be cashier training March 1 and 13, setting soft drinks, cookies and crackers, lunch meats, perishable groceries on Friday March 14, followed by produce, milk, chips and snacks and front displays on Monday, March 17. The bread set, fresh meat case set and produce set will be made on Tuesday followed by the store's soft opening on Wednesday, March 19.
Although a much smaller grocery, Schmutz invites everyone from the Du Quoin area to the store's opening March 19 and the ribbon-cutting Friday, March 21 to get a glimpse of the look and feel of the new Du Quoin store.
"Du Quoin will be the flagship store of Bottom Dollar," he said.