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Small vendors feel squeezed
08-15-06 | RapidCityJournal.Com | Dan Daly

STURGIS - Don’t look for the Wild Dutchman at the 2007 Sturgis motorcycle rally.

Wayne Vander Laan and his son Toby are partners in Wild Dutchman Sunflower Seeds. They grow and process the seeds on their farm near Mound City. This year, they brought their upscale snacks to the Sturgis rally and set up shop in a small Main Street booth east of Junction Avenue.

The two were handing out free samples and selling bags of sunflower seeds. They were getting fair traffic, and some sales — but not enough to cover the $2,850 in rent and license fees they paid to be there.

“This is our first year. We didn’t know what to expect,” Wayne Vander Laan said. “We won’t be back, unless something changes in the next couple of days.”

The Sturgis motorcycle rally has always been big business for Sturgis, but in recent years, it has also come to be dominated by big businesses.

Each year, small tents and booths along Main and Lazelle streets are replaced by canvas-topped shopping malls and big indoor retail operations, some of which operate year-round.

Some rally veterans, including one of the big operators, worry that there’s less room for the little vendor amid the high-octane retailing in downtown Sturgis.

Bob Davis of Sturgis Bike Week, a fairly big presence during the Sturgis motorcycle rally, said his company operates four indoor retail stores downtown.

He, too, believes that the smaller spaces are having a harder time competing. Five years ago, Sturgis Bike Week sold T-shirts and other wares in a variety of large and small vendor spaces scattered through downtown.

“No matter what we tried or how much money we spent, we couldn’t make the small spaces work. We finally gave up,” he said. “If I put up a T-shirt booth someplace, I’m going to make sure it’s a big one.”

With a big space, vendors can offer more products, more selection, better visibility and a professional look, Davis said.

Over the past 20 years, there has been a gradual change in the mix of vendors and products in Sturgis. In the ’80s, many artists, craftspeople and independent vendors used to set up shop and sell unique products at Sturgis.

“Most of that has gone away in downtown Sturgis,” Davis said. “I don’t think that it’s been good for the rally to have those people leave.”

Part of the problem is city vendor licenses, Davis believes. Whether you have 100 square feet or 10,000 square feet, the license is still $600.

“It’s really not entirely fair to have a guy who has a 10-foot space inside H.O. Anderson’s Hardware Store, who’s a jewelry maker and has a really good product, pay the same fee as somebody who has a 5,000-square-foot space,” Davis said.

Sturgis officials are looking at ways to change the fee structure at future rallies. “That is something the city has looked into the last couple of years,” said Lisa Weyer, director of the city of Sturgis Rally Department. “If we did go forward, it would be something that would have to be well thought out.”

And the $600 fee is not the biggest expense for vendors. The Vander Laans paid $2,250 for their Wild Dutchman Sunflower Seeds space. There’s little the city can do about the rents downtown.

Weyer, too, said it’s important to keep the small vendors and a variety of products in Sturgis during the rally. “That’s what makes the rally what it is — small, mom-and-pop vendor spaces that have a variety of unique products. I’d hate to see that go away,” she said.

Indeed, a walk down Sturgis’ Main Street shows a marketplace dominated by T-shirts and leather goods — often the same T-shirts and leather goods. One vendor, Biker Design, has eight locations on Main Street, including five that cover corner lots. Officials from Biker Design were not available for comment.

However, small vendors do survive, and thrive, in Sturgis. Jeremy Mlnarik and Pam Berndt have operated the Tie Dye and Hemp Booth on Lazelle Street for 14 years, and business remains good.

“We work real hard at making it happen. We sell something unique … and most of it’s handmade,” he said. “It helps that we don’t sell black T-shirts and leathers. We couldn’t compete.”

The couple, from Chippewa Falls, Wis., also works other rallies and a few flea markets. They operate as a nonprofit. Proceeds go to soup kitchens, and they also use the booth as a forum for legalizing medical marijuana and industrial hemp.

“We try to get people excited about freedom,” he said.

Contact Dan Daly at 394-8421 or dan.daly@rapidcityjournal.com