Richmond-While urban sprawl has been a factor in the closure of some Southern States Cooperative outlets, it has not caused a crisis, according to Jim Erickson, spokesman for the cooperative. Erickson recently responded to an Associated Press story that indicated that the cooperative was hard hit by urban sprawl. The story noted that Southern States ended fiscal 2000 with 327 stores and has only 212 today, a drop of 115 locations. Erickson said that the vast majority of those closures were years old and related to restructuring of operations to reduce debt, cut costs, and consolidate facilities acquired as a part of the purchase of the Gold Kist farm supply business. Southern States turned the restructuring corner more than two years ago, said Erickson. The AP story arose from a Martinsville, W. Va., location that recently closed due to the encroaching residential and commercial development and a decline in its agricultural customer base. Southern States has also closed stores in Vienna and Herndon, Va., in the D.C. metropolitan area. More recently, Southern States opened a new location in Ronceverte, W. Va. Erickson said the company has also remodeled a number of stores and is in the midst of remodeling more to serve its changing customer base. Erickson said the remodeling and upgrades will continue as it moves forward.
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