CONNECTION | FEATURE
SCHEELS Scheels is not a small business. It is a small business success story that has turned into a nationwide business headquartered in North Dakota. Scheels started as a hardware store in Sabin, Minn., In 1902. In the 1970s, Steve D. Scheel pushed for a shift to sporting goods, and in 1968 the company opened a store in Bismarck. Today, Scheels is headquartered in Fargo with stores 30 stores in 13 states. In 2023, the company has plans to open stores in Chandler, Ariz., and Wichita, Kan. Although Scheels has a corporate headquarters in Fargo, Bismarck Store Leader Tyler Halm said each store is given a tremendous amount of autonomy. “What sells for fishing tackle in Texas doesn’t sell in Bismarck,” Halm said. Halm said a typical sporting goods corporation will have 1-3 buyers fishing products for all of the stores. At Scheels, all buying decisions are made locally. “Our structure is certainly more complicated,” Halm said. “It requires a lot more people at a very high level. Each store has buyers. We can control the inventory coming into our doors...
“We can ask, ‘Hey, what are the fish biting on?’ What are customers looking for? What is the local product? Guys will come in and say, ‘Hey, this is my ice fishing bucket. I make it in my garage. I really think it will sell.’ We say, ‘Hey, bring it in.’” Just like purchasing decisions that are made locally, community involvement decisions are also made at local Scheels stores. Corporate Scheels doesn’t dictate where charitable dollars go. “You have to support the community that supports you,” Halms said. “We track all of our donations. There are over 360 different organizations that we have been able to partner with this year alone.” Scheels commonly sponsors sports fields in a community. It makes sense, given that sporting goods are their bread and butter. “We want to give these kids places to play,” said Melissa Neutman, Community Relations. “If they don’t have places to play, these sports will never grow.” The Bismarck Scheels employs 250 people. Unlike many retailers, Scheels doesn’t go through a big pre-Christmas hiring push. “We pride ourselves on the level of customer service we give,” Halm said. “We try to avoid flash-in-the-pan hires. We want to make commitments. We try to stick to part-time roles, midtime roles, and full-times roles.” In order to draw customers into the store, Scheels focuses on the experience. The Bismarck store offers games for everyone such as bowling or shooting. Grandma Gina’s cafe offers lunch, dinner, and fudge. The two-story flagship store in Fargo is known for its Ferris wheel. “We strive to create a great experience,” Neutman said. “Experience is one word we use quite often.” In addition, Scheels has a robust online presence. Like many businesses, the pandemic accelerated online purchases. Still, Scheels keeps things as local as possible. “If someone jumps on Scheels.com, it will pull from the closest local store,” Neutman said. When you are buying strictly from an online retailer with no brick-and-mortar presences in your community, it may be easy up front but not easy if you have to make returns. “It’s easy to jump online and buy those things,” Neutman said. “When something goes wrong, it’s never that easy.”
Tyler Halm, Store Leader at Scheels
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