“The Occidental General Store” breathes new life into a small town in South Dakota

ISABEL, SD (KFYR) – Isabel, SD may not be in the middle of nowhere, but it’s pretty close.

The town, with around 130 inhabitants, is located about 217 kilometers from Bismarck and 280 kilometers from Rapid City.

There are a few small towns that are a little closer, but even those are at least 20 miles away.

But there is good news for residents of this small South Dakota town, and it all starts at the local grocery store.

Grocery loading has become a Monday and Thursday morning routine for Ryan Maher, who wakes up early on those days to pick up groceries from the grocery store in Timber Lake.

“We transport food in rain and snow. Recently it was 41 degrees and we did it in minus 20 degrees,” he said.

He drags them 20 miles down the road to his grocery store in Isabel.

“I’m too small and don’t meet the minimum requirements. We’re far away from everything,” Maher says, laughing.

But The Occidental General Store quickly became the center of this community.

“I think the best thing about it is that it’s a place where people come in, say hello, have fun and stop by,” says Deb Bunn, the store’s only full-time employee.

“I like working at the grocery store,” she said

She has been here since the store opened two years ago.

Maher wasn’t sure if that day would ever come.

“I bought the worst junk,” he laughed. “The roof was leaking and the floors were rotten.”

But Isabel’s lifelong resident was determined to restore the 1914 building and breathe new life into his hometown.

For regular customers like Keri Swift, having a well-stocked store just down the street has made life a little easier.

“It’s nice when I have to do a big shop or a small shop where I only need a loaf of bread and a gallon of milk,” Swift said.

It seems that The Occidental is exactly what this community needed.

“That’s why it’s been so successful. Because we’re so far away from Walmarts, Sam’s Clubs and Costcos,” Maher said. “If Walmart was just 20 miles down the road, this wouldn’t work.”

This makes this location in the middle of nowhere the key to its success.

The Occidental is open seven days a week, and to keep up with that schedule, Maher relies on several part-time employees. He said being open every day is critical to the store’s success.

And it attracts many tourists looking for a stopover on their way to the Black Hills. He says many customers come from Bismarck, but he’s also seen people come to his shop from as far away as London, France, the Netherlands and Amsterdam.

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