Holy cow: GOED does something right!
The Governor’s Office of Economic Development proudly announces financial assistance for an honest-to-goodness, locally owned downtown retail business:
Prairie Harvest Mercantile, Inc., DBA Miss Kitty’s Mercantile, a homegrown soap and lotion shop based in Deadwood, S.D., has been approved for a MicroLOAN by the South Dakota Development Corporation (SDDC). The loan will be used to purchase the land and building the company is currently leasing, located at 649 Main St. in Deadwood.
“Small businesses like Prairie Harvest Mercantile are vital to our state’s economy,” said Commissioner Pat Costello, Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED)….
“The MicroLOAN provided us with a portion of our financing at a lower interest rate and shorter term, which was exactly what we were looking for in the purchase of our building from the Miss Kitty’s Mercantile store in Deadwood,” said Kimberli Fehr, store owner. “We are very excited to be able to partner with the SDDC for the continued success of our store” [Governor’s Office of Economic Development, press release, 2015.05.12].
The MicroLoan program offers loans of $1,000 to $100,000 to projects no bigger than $500,000 at 3% interest, for terms up to ten years. Bill Janklow started the fund in 1999.
Prairie Harvest Mercantile, started in 2005 in Piedmont, makes soaps from locally produced buffalo tallow. Kimberli Fehr sells her soaps and lotions at retail locations in eighteen states. How many bikers they help stay clean and soft during the Sturgis rally is unknown, but their downtown Deadwood location surely boosts those sales and diversifies Main Street.
Now if I could just get groceries in Deadwood….
Best of luck to Prairie Harvest Mercantile.