MISSION, SOUTH DAKOTA –– The Turtle Creek Crossing store located west of town is facing what may be described as “growing pains” much like that experienced by any new business. Rosebud Sioux tribal president, Rodney Bordeaux explained that it might take any new business five years to see real growth. The new manager at the store is Trent Poignee, a former RST council representative from Antelope community. The store began during Bordeaux’s election campaign in 2005 with the vision and input of the Rosebud Economic Development Corporation or REDCO and which celebrated its one year opening this summer. The reasons for RST opening a store included high prices locally for groceries, tribal concerns over stores being unfriendly, raising prices on food stamp day and the fact that 80 percent out of the dollar is leaving the area and is not being reinvested on the Rosebud according to written statements supplied to the Native Sun News by Bordeaux in an interview over the weekend on the premises of the TCC store. The cost of construction and the sources of funding for the store include, a $3 million dollar loan, two $2 million dollar grants in fiscal year 2007-08 from the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community and an additional $177,199.50 for the parking lot and $153,450.00 for the access road. There was an initial desire to build a quality store in the agency town of Rosebud, but no suitable location could be found and it was subsequently located in Mission. The store originally hired nearly 60 employees and that number has been reduced to 24 employees. Some of the shrinking numbers have been due to routine turnover of employees as well as a recent reduction of employees in order to streamline the budget. Bordeaux said, “The sales haven’t increased to the point where we could justify the number of employees we had before. The labor costs are so high that the profit margins are so low we had to take some drastic action. With new management coming on, Trent was able to actually start doing that.” It has seen a significant turnover in store managers, however Bordeaux says, “With our current and new store manager, Trent Poignee we have a tribal member with some experience and the drive to accept the challenge. We have a lot of faith in his leadership.” Poingnee described some of the specific strategies he will employ in order to increase sales. He said, “The strategy for marketing to get people in the door is we are going to have our reward card. For every hundred of dollars spent you get $5.00 off your next purchase. We are going to go back having drawings, nightly drawings." "We will have different themes for different nights, maybe a pizza night. We are going to Shakopee in a week or so and ask for another grant…I’m going to really hit hard with that grant," Poingnee said. "Hit marketing, newspapers, giveaways and promotions. We just need to advertise and market it. That is what I am going to hit. Give things away with our logo on it. Our meat department is number one in the area.” The store was built as a way to create local jobs for Rosebud tribal members as well as to attract local shoppers and keep the money on the reservation. Some tribal members also believe that there is simply too much money that is spent in reservation borders town and not enough reinvested on the Rosebud. It is a complicated issue that is compounded by the fact that many business and outside workers also come to the reservation to solicit tribal business and that money is taken back to other communities and not necessarily “turned over” on the reservation to support its economy. It is a microcosm of what happens in other tribal communities across the nation and there is no easy answer for policy makers. The store has seemingly had difficulty in attracting a regular clientele as most grocery stores do. On any given day or evening the number of vehicles outside of the store might number in the single digits, while the other two stores in Mission might be have three or four times that number. Bordeaux said, “That really gets me because one of the reasons for the store was the competition. They were unfriendly, the prices were high and when we came to town they cleaned their act up. However, I always thought our people would automatically follow the tribal grocery store, but that is not happening. And, I think it has something to do with advertising. A true sense of sovereignty is when we start thinking as a people or as a whole…we don’t seem to have a sense of unity.” The TCC store does boast a delicious noon buffet that features deep fried chicken that is reasonably priced. A complete meal can be purchased for just around $6.00, while other locations might charge a dollar or two more. There are times when the seating area is packed during the noon hour as workers from area schools and the hospital are seen routinely eating there. ‘We are looking at getting a franchise. We talked about maybe McDonald’s, a Hardees and maybe Kentucky Fried Chicken, Taco Bell. We are exploring those options” said Bordeaux. A couple of months ago the store discontinued a successful rebate program whereby shoppers would get a $10 rebate for every $100 spent at the store or in the deli. The $10 could be used to purchase gas at the Rosebud Casino Fuel Plaza or for the purchase of a $10 bingo packet. The rebate program has returned as noted by Poignee. The other issues of concern which the store continues to face are, that some tribal members do not support the store, a “concern that tribal sovereignty to be truly achieved is for the people to support tribal business, lack of qualified and experienced individuals in the area with business related management experience, further economic development, and more business needed in the same location” according to Bordeaux. With respect to the future Bordeaux added, “I think we need to hit really hard in terms of advertisement, getting out there and really selling this store; and, making it competitive with uptown.” “I don’t know what it is. I just thought people would come here…I think what initially hurt us at the outset was due to some management issues. We were unable to keep the shelves adequately stocked” he added. It was also noted that presently tribal employees are not able to use payroll deduction to shop at the store, but that might be an option to explore. The benefits cited for new businesses locating at the TCC store site include the fact that they pay a 4 percent sales tax as compared to paying 6 percent in Mission. Also, there is plenty of room for expansion and development. Finally, in addition to attracting a franchise to the location, Bordeaux also noted that the tribe is “working on a credit union for area citizens who want a difference or better service than what they are getting locally and working to attract other businesses to locate at the business site where TCC is.” (Dr. Archie Beauvais can be reached at abeaux@post.harvard.edu)