by Terrie Ellerbee/associate editor
The oil fields have created a bubbling melting pot in western North Dakota.
Halliburton drops four buses full of workers off at the Economart in Williston at 6 a.m. each workday morning, and they clean out every grab-and-go item they can find.
Owner Mike Kraft owns and operates that 56,000-s.f. Economart. He told The Shelby Report that the store sells 400 to 500 sandwiches a day.
Oil field workers live in what have been dubbed “man camps,” which are filled with so-called skid shacks, mobile homes and even leftover housing from Hurricane Katrina. They provide each worker a bed and possibly a microwave and small refrigerator. That is, if workers can get a spot. Others live in motel rooms—if they can find one available. A new Motel 6 opened up and an oil company leased the whole thing for five years.
Some workers live in campers or even their cars. Scant living space means little room for food storage.
“They’re like European shoppers,” Kraft said. “They shop daily for their daily needs and then come back the next day.”
Tastes are changing, as well. Where once the local people, mostly of German and Norwegian descent, dictated the assortment on the shelves, today’s offerings are just as likely to include red beans and rice and brisket.
The Economart recently installed new equipment that allows for the sale of more frozen products, as well as a new deli with a serpentine case and a new five-deck merchandiser.
“We’re re-evaluating continuously because of the impact on sales and demand. We’re getting a different mix of people,” said Kraft, who also owns and operates two Food Pride stores, each about 9,600 s.f., in Stanley and Tioga. “We’re such a melting pot of people coming up here from the South, West and all over from different states.”
Hispanics, Texans, Southerners, they want what they want, he said, and his stores are accommodating them.
Satisfying new tastes and keeping the bakery and deli stocked aren’t the only accommodations Kraft has made. With oil field wages running $25 to $30 and sometimes more an hour, employees have higher expectations when it comes to pay.
“The problems businesses are having right now are, No. 1, if they can get employees, they’ve got to pay them $18, $20, $22 an hour for a grocery store,” said Tom Woodmansee, president of the North Dakota Grocers Association (NDGA). “The No. 1 thing is getting employees and No. 2 is keeping them.”
Many residents of the area, through no fault of their own,
have seen the rent on their homes double or triple. The hourly wage has “increased considerably from what it was four years ago,” Kraft said.
Kraft found a unique way to combat both the wage increases and scarce housing. In addition to investing in real estate and buying mobile homes over the past year, he also brought in foreign exchange students to work in the stores.
“I’m having to bring students in from throughout the world,” Kraft said. “They’re here for 90-day visa passes. I have to house as well as transport them.”
Students from Brazil, Thailand and Russia help stabilize the workforce. In return, they get to spend time in the United States to learn the language and explore the culture.
Economart also provides Western Union services for the oil field workers who want to send money or packages back home.
“We have a steady line of 60 people there,” he said. “We provide that service and offer extended hours because of the transient people who are coming in and have packages for the holidays and that type of thing. The servicing of money needs is really important. A lot of them need to funnel money back home for mortgage payments, and we provide that service.”
Occasionally, Kraft’s staff will don hard hats and go out to an oil rig site to cater a staff dinner. The oil companies reward their employees for meeting safety goals and they call on Kraft and Economart to provide the food.
“That’s been a nice challenge,” he said. “It’s kind of refreshing to go out there and do that for them.”
The sudden explosion in population and wealth has been positive in many ways, but the state is taking the bad with the good.
“The downside is the infrastructure in the western part of the state is in terrible shape, because you’ve got those oil trucks running 24/7 in some areas,” NDGA’s Woodmansee said. “In some areas you can’t even get on the highway because there’s just one right after another. Infrastructure gets beat up pretty good. It’s got to be addressed.”
That can make keeping the stores stocked a challenge
“Our stores have to get serviced by their wholesaler, which is Nash Finch or Supervalu, and the demand is so high, it’s getting to the point that you can’t sell it if you don’t have it,” Woodmansee said.
“We’ve increased our truck traffic to seven days delivery from the warehouse, so we have grown with the needs, and we
feel that we’re doing a good job of supplying the local area,” Kraft said.
Another issue is crime. “With it comes an excessive amount of law enforcement people who have to be involved, and you get crimes that people up here are not used to because you have a different work ethic that’s coming up here for the jobs and the money,” Woodmansee said.
People keep coming. too. Woodmansee said even in Bismarck he sees cars and pickup trucks from Oklahoma, Washington state, Montana and Colorado as well as Texas.
“It’s unbelievable,” he said.
Minot flooding destroys hundreds of homes
North Dakota also suffered terrible tragedy last spring and summer when the Souris River flooded and forced 12,000 people in Minot out of their homes. Thousands of acres of farmland were flooded when the Missouri River breached levees.
Minot is the county seat of Ward County, which in January passed a moratorium on building permits in areas of the
flood plain.
“Thirty-five to 40 percent of the homes in the Souris Valley area were just lost,” Woodmansee said.
More than 4,100 homes were somewhat affected; 2,376 extensively damaged and 805 left beyond repair. It is unclear when—or if—those homes will be rebuilt. Only remodeling and renovation currently are allowed.
(See a story on page 29 about Marketplace Food & Drug in Minot and the incredible effort it undertook to continue to serve the community and its employees in the wake of the devastation. The store had 24 hours to evacuate not once, but twice in one week due to the flooding. The second crest destroyed the store.)