Dear Mr. McMullen,
As a community member in DeWitt, AR, I am writing to you to express the importance of keeping our local Kroger grocery store open. I understand that times have changed, wages have increased, and the supply chain is in a bind, but the NEED of this store in our community outweighs everything! We aren’t just wanting this store to stay open, we desperately NEED it to remain open. I hope, after you read my email, that you will take into consideration the idea of leaving our store open. Not just for the city of DeWitt and its citizens, but for the outlying communities as well.
Arkansas County is limited on grocery store chains, and I can testify that Kroger receives more business than you may realize. We may be small in population for the city, but if you look at the overall population of Arkansas County, which is approximately 17,914, you will understand the importance of this grocery store. Although it may be small in square footage, it is HUGE in customer sales and need. Kroger-DeWitt serves more than just DeWitt. It serves Gillett, Tichnor, Bayou Meto, Reydell, Almyra, St. Charles, Crocketts Bluff, Stuttgart, and other outlying communities. People travel to our local Kroger from all these communities to purchase their groceries. Why? There isn’t another grocery store with the produce, meat selection, grocery items, and most importantly, customer service in the entire state!
The employees at Kroger go above and beyond to make sure ALL their customers can get what they need when they walk through the doors. They use the local newspaper, social media, and word of mouth to spread important sales and information to the surrounding communities. They stock up on even more grocery items during hunting seasons, as hunters from all across the state, and other states, stop in to buy their grocery items to stock their camps. I have yet to see a hunting season that the store wasn’t packed with hunters and their campers/trailers filling the adjoining large parking lot, simply because they prefer to shop at Kroger!
With the increase in prices, comes an increase in gas costs, and as a smaller community, knowing that added travel expenses will occur due to having to drive further to purchase groceries is something most of the citizens can not afford. I do understand that it is crucial to a business to rake in thousands, or millions, of dollars in revenue each year, but I must remind you that no business will succeed without customers. DeWitt, and all surrounding communities, has the best customer base you will EVER FIND!
The employees at Kroger-DeWitt have been with your company for many, MANY, years. They have weathered every natural disaster, the COVID pandemic, power outages, snow storms, ice storms, and more to ensure that any and every customer had a place to go when they needed groceries. Their dedication and determination for your company far outweighs any other business I have ever known of! Your employees go above and beyond for their customers and that is not something you will find anywhere else!
The community stands behind Kroger and supports them whole heartedly! So many times, community members think of your employees and stop what they are doing to deliver a fresh, hot meal to those who are working. Why? Because your employees always take care of their customers, and YOUR BUSINESS.
I would also like to bring to your attention the youth in our community who will miss out on the opportunity to work with the public while they are in high school, and even after they graduate. These students learn how to manage money, good customer service skills, how to stock and rotate products, and so many other IMPORTANT life lessons that will be taken away when you shut the doors of our local Kroger. Kroger-DeWitt has always done an outstanding job preparing our youth to be productive community members, and now, with the thought of those opportunities being thrown in the wind because the store isn’t making millions for you, blows my mind.
Call me greedy for being so concerned about our community losing Kroger, and I’ll tell you I SURE AM! Why? Because I am passionate about our community and the city of DeWitt. I do not want to see it become another ghost town. The revenue that will be lost when the doors close will put our city into a financial strain in my opinion. That will result in putting a strain an our local public school and college campus. You see, it’s more about "keeping one store open." It’s about keeping an entire county ALIVE.
I plead with you, please don’t take the life from our city. Your employees and customers DEPEND ON YOUR STORE! I will be more than glad to get a petition signed by community members who feel the same! You will be floored to see how many names we can get! I promise you!
So please, although I know you have played this through your mind, please reconsider this and see it from the communities standpoint. Don’t take away a business that keeps the county going strong! Instead, look at ways to improve it and expand it to allow you the opportunity to offer a wider selection of items and you will be amazed at the profits that start pouring in!
I would be more than happy to talk with you over the telephone, or in person, should you be willing to listen. (870) 509-1575
Sincerely,
Charlotte Purdy
Concerned for our DeWitt community
KEEP KROGER OPEN!
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