From their competitors. You know… because they are good at offering consumers a good product at a good price.
“There is only so much of the pie to go around,” Tom Beck, owner of Beck’s Green Bay Avenue Mart, said at the March Plan Commission hearing, according to an Ozaukee Press article. Beck, whose business is next to the future Kwik Trip, couldn’t be reached for comment.
Zietlow said similar claims were made when Kwik Trip was getting approval for stores in other Milwaukee-area communities. That includes a 2011 proposal for Menomonee Falls, near Silver Spring Drive and Lilly Road, which Kwik Trip dropped.
“I think most elected officials see through that,” Zietlow said. “They understand that competition is good for the market.”
Instead of the competitive effects, local officials should base their decisions on whether the proposals meet their zoning standards, Zietlow said. Kwik Trip shouldn’t be treated differently from other gas station and convenience store operators, he said.
Saukville Village President Barb Dickmann agreed.
“It is not government’s role to regulate commerce,” she said. “We can only look at it from the standards of the Plan Commission.”
Barb Dickmann has it exactly right. Government should not be in the business of limiting competition to protect existing businesses. Let the consumers and the market decide.
On a related note, it sure would be nice to get a Kwik Trip in West Bend.
I’m a big fan of Kwik Trip. Wish there was one closer to West Allis. Their coffee is better and hotter than Speedway. They have more selections as far as available food, and it’s not bad, for the most part. I use them extensively on the road as a truck driver, and when I go to see mom in Waukesha, I always stop at the one on Racine and 164. I remember when I lived in Green Bay. Nearly all the other gas stations raised or lowered their prices to match KT.
I’m a fan too. The closest one to West Bend is in Germantown. I drive down that way often enough for other reasons that I make a point of filling up at KT whenever I can. It helps that gas in West Bend is always about 10 cents more expensive than anywhere else, but that’s another story.