Karina Jones is a real-life ranch wife in the Nebraska Sandhills and one of the most highly sought-after speakers in the cattle industry nationwide!
I’m going to let Mr Dave from Redman’s Shoes in Alliance, NE speak for what it is like to face the giants. With his permission, this is from a letter he wrote to his customers announcing the closure of his shoe store.
“”BIG” has won, and this business model is dead. The pandemic accelerated shopping online and leaving retail stores less important to sell merchandise. Suppliers like, “NIKE, Asics, Hush Puppy, Dr Martin, Spenco, Crocs, Clarks, and more” all closing our account between 2020 and 2022 due to supply chain issues, being an independent store rather than part of a chain store, and finally, location. So, if we can’t have the brands that we helped build over the years by selling them IN store and we can’t open new accounts with the brands that customers want, then it becomes a very difficult day telling customers that we don’t have what they want and soul crushing for us. Family shoe stores are very rare now and we should be happy that we kept ours open as long as we did. We are too small of a store, in the small end of a small state. Chain stores currently have all the clout to stay in business. Our business model is no longer relevant to our suppliers, only to us. Weirdly, we have become competition to the very suppliers we buy from.”
I’m assuming that is in reference to his suppliers selling online and having their own stores.
As the late, great Paul Harvey would say, “and now you know the rest of the story.” Now you know the struggle these independent businesses are going through to serve you, give back to your community, all while facing the giants!
HOT BARN REPORT: Shop Small, Shop Local, Support Rural America
Karina ranches with her husband, Marty, and 4 children near Broken Bow, NE. She grew up in western NE, with roots also in southwest SD. The cattle industry and raising kids is her passion.
Watching the cattle industry go the path that it has gone, she could no longer sit quietly at home checking cows, fixing fence, and doing all the everyday tasks wondering when some else was going to make it all better. As she became more active and outspoken on industry issues, she was asked to join the R-CALF USA staff in September 2020 as the Checkoff Petition Campaign manager. That position transcended into her current role as full time Field Director for R-CALF USA.
You can hear her almost every Friday on Your Ag Network’s Hot Barn Report, where she deep dives into cattle industry issues and industry reforms. Listen to Ranch Raised on a Your Ag Network hometown station or www.youragnetwork.com where she talks about her daily life on the Jones Ranch.
Cattle producers are her people. She will meet you at the county fair, at the sale barn, or anywhere the dusty trail leads.
karina@youragnetwork.com or visit facebook.com/ranchraisedwithkarinajones
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