Les Schwab Tire Center

When Les Schwab began expanding into the Dakotas, I was moving quickly to identify sites in every market with a population over 10,000. One of the towns I knew we needed to secure a location in was Watertown, South Dakota.
 

My approach in markets like this is always the same. I start by studying the aerials, traffic flow, and retail patterns to identify where the real commercial gravity of the town sits. In Watertown, the retail hub was very clear, and I focused my search on

finding a hard corner at a signalized intersection as close to that hub as possible.

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One site immediately stood out. It was located directly across from the local Tractor Supply and sat in a strong position within the trade area. From a site selection standpoint, it checked all the boxes for a Les Schwab store.

 

The property was not on the market, so I tracked down the owner and made a cold call. As it turned out, they were open to selling, and we were able to quickly come to terms and put the property under contract.

 

As we moved through due diligence, we discovered existing sewer lines running through the site that required some creative problem-solving to work around. After coordinating with the city and our engineering team, we were able to reconfigure the site plan and maneuver around the utility constraints without compromising the location.

 

In the end, the effort paid off. Les Schwab secured their preferred site within the Watertown trade area and moved forward with development of a new store.