The store will be three times as large as our current building.  While it won’t be overly fancy it will be a huge step up from what we currently have.

We haven’t been that good at keeping up with our news site, but this site will be a great way to keep people informed of what’s going on. 

We plan on doing quite a bit of hiring for the new store before we open.  If you’re interested in getting in on the ground floor of our Minot upgrade, now would be a good time to apply. 

The store will be three times as large as our current building.  While it won’t be overly fancy it will be a huge step up from what we currently have.

We haven’t been that good at keeping up with our news site, but this site will be a great way to keep people informed of what’s going on. 

We plan on doing quite a bit of hiring for the new store before we open.  If you’re interested in getting in on the ground floor of our Minot upgrade, now would be a good time to apply. 

We are opening up at 8am with our Giant Christmas Gifts flyer PLUS a one day only sale.

So go ahead and sleep in a bit on Friday and we’ll have the coffee on for you at 8 am. 

Here’s our testimonial ad that we’ve ran since the summer.  We normally only do ads with item and price, but once in a while it’s nice to try to establish your identity out in the marketplace. 

I thought this ad turned out well and it hit a number of really big categories like Tires, Batteries, Honda, Carhartt, FR. 

This is the first ad we’ve posted for some time.  Formally I posted them on Yahoo Video due to bandwidth considerations here in Grand Forks.  We’ve upgraded so we’ll start posting the videos to Youtube which isn’t going to disappear like Yahoo Video did. 

Home of Economy has had layaway for as long as I’ve been around.  We think long and hard about taking away a service that our customers need. 

Layaway isn’t a cheap service to offer.  The biggest cost is what to do with the products if someone doesn’t pick up the products.  A lot of the time the season for those products (toys at Christmas for example) is past and we wind up selling the products for a discount.

On the other hand it’s a service that many of our customers have appreciated over the years and we’ve never been willing to tell them no.

The actions by these national retailers show that we’ve been right all along. 

This year we made the commitment to be your Honda Power Equipment Headquarters in our stores in Williston, Minot, Devils Lake, Jamestown, Grafton and Grand Forks.  It’s certainly been worthwhile as our sales on generators, pumps and lawn mowers exceeded our expectations.

Now we’re making room for the Honda Snowblowers.  We had a lot of snow last year so we expect that a lot of people have saved their money to buy a Honda Snowblower this fall.

If you want to get the best snowblower you’ll want to buy the Honda which has reach the acme of perfection in electric start snowblowers.  They are a great tool that we need up here in the North. 

They’re in the stores now and remember we have them at the Guaranteed Lowest Price. 

If you want more details you can get the crib notes at the Honda Power Equipment website.  http://www.hondapowerequipment.com/products/requestbrochure.aspx

The Legion did a story on the back page of their newspaper and were nice enough to give us some publicity. 

My last post here was on the monster pressure washers that we sold out in the oil patch.  That was such a success that we’ve brought in the granddaddy of them all.  This pressure washer will feed two guns at 5,000 psi at 4 gallons a minute. 

I don’t think you want to use that your car, unless you don’t like the factory paint. 

This is a shot of the engine.  I didn’t get the details but it looks heavy duty to me. 

And finally this is the pressure pump. 

We actually brought this out on spec, but we do have someone looking at it.  When we sell it it will be the most expensive item we’ve ever sold. 

This hot water washer serves two washing wands that can clean with 3,000 psi at 4 gallons per minute.  That’s amazing performance.  The water tanks are there for a couple reasons.  You’d have to have pretty good water delivery to keep up with the pump.  Having the tanks evens that out.  The other thing is of course is that the unit is portable and you can haul it to where you have the work.

We’ve just sold two of these out to the oil patch.  I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t become a big business for us. 

Soup, sandwiches, doughnuts, cookies, and free coffee are served daily!

July 18 - July 22
Monday - CHICKEN FETT. ALFREDO – GARLIC TOAST
Tuesday - BACON CHEESEBURGER / POTATO SALAD / CHIPS
Wednesday - BURRITO SM. BEVERAGE
Thursday - CHICKEN STRIPS – AGRUTIN POTATO – COLESLAW
Friday - TURKEY/BACON/SWISS CROSSIANT/CHOICE OF SOUP

The flood victims they talked about was one of our Team Members that is living in the RV in our parking lot.  Our Store Manager there did a great interview as well pointing out the H of E has always done what it takes to do what we need to do to help our customers:

“It’s not only north hill (and) south hill,” said Ben Litzinger, manager of Home of Economy. “The river kind of cuts off about half of the east side of town, and a lot of my workers live on the east side of the river.”

Litzinger said he typically has 18 employees working throughout the day. The flooding has cut that number to six. He said he has had to work 12 hours shifts to make up for lost employees.

“If I have to run the store with me and one other person, I’ll do that,” he said. “I understand that not everybody’s going to be able to make it in.”

They were lucky, though, when it came to stock piling supplies, he said. A truck from Grand Forks came Friday morning before U.S. Highway 2 was closed near Towner, N.D. He said during the evacuation periods the store was very busy, and electrical generators and water pumps were the first to go.

Litzinger, who lived through the Red River flood of 1997, was confident in his shop’s supply and their ability to stay open.

“In Grand Forks in ’97 Home of Economy was open the whole time. They actually had to move their business just outside of town,” he said. “If they can stay open, we’re staying open.”

Talk of what Ben’s going through brings back the memories of the Grand Forks flood where we were the only store open every day throughout the flood. 

The Army is our favorite charity.  You can’t do much better than them to get your money to where it’s actually needed.

The Minot Salvation Army is preparing to offer long-term assistance for local families affected by the flooding Souris River, expected to destroy hundreds of homes this weekend in Minot and surrounding communities.

With more than 12,000 people displaced and a reported 168 individuals at local shelters, that means many families are needing assistance in travel expenses or food and clothing as they are staying with friends or relatives.  The Salvation Army is prepared to help these displaced families with emergency supplies.  Cash donations are needed to provide these things to families in crisis.

Financial assistance for food, gas and other necessities is currently available for qualifying households displaced by the flood. To learn more, call 701-838-8925.

“Financial assistance will continue to be available after the floodwaters recede, cleanup begins and people begin rebuilding their lives, as resources allow,” said Major Donald Kincaid, Minot Salvation Army administrator. “But in order for us to assist all the people coming to us for help, we need as many donations as possible.”

In addition to monetary contributions, donations of clothing and gently-used goods can be made at the Minot Salvation Army thrift store, 530 20th Ave. SW. Many of the flood survivors will receive gift certificates good for anything at the store.

Salvation Army teams from Minot, Fargo and the Twin Cities are currently providing food, drinks and emotional support in Minot and neighboring Burlington, Velva and Sawyer. To volunteer, call 701-838-8925.
For any and all flood information not related to The Salvation Army, call the Ward County Flood Hotline at 701-858-9366.

Monetary donations:
The Minot Salvation Army needs financial support now and in the months ahead to cover the costs of its disaster response. To make a $10 donation, text “MINOT” to 80888 and reply “yes” to the confirmation text. A one-time donation of $10 will be added to your mobile phone bill. Messaging and data rates may apply. For terms, see http://www.igfn.org/t.

Donations can also be made online at http://www.thesalarmy.org, by calling 800-SAL-ARMY (725-2769) or by mailing a check to The Salvation Army, 2445 Prior AVE N, Roseville MN 55113. Be sure to designate your donation “Minot Flood.”

You know what’s really cool in this blog post?  They say that 12,000 people were displaced, but only 168 people wound up in shelters.  I love North Dakota.