The tiny town of Cormorant Village has a message for Dollar General: You're not welcome here.
The Village Board unanimously opposed Dollar General's recent petition to the Becker County Board that would allow it to build a store on a 5-acre strip of agricultural land atop a rise along County Hwy. 5 about 20 miles southwest of Detroit Lakes.
"It's got a lot of people wound up," said Steve Sorenson, chairman of the Village Board.
Well, not a lot of people.
Cormorant Village is about a quarter-mile long and has a half-dozen homes, a store and a gas station. The town's mayor was a Great Pyrenees named Duke, until he retired in July due to old age. Just 11 people live there in the summer; eight in the winter, Sorenson said.
Which is why he can't understand why Tennessee-based Dollar General wants to build another store in the area. The company has stores in Pelican Rapids, which is 16 miles south of Cormorant Village; Lake Park, which is 17 miles north; and Hawley, which is 22 miles northwest. It has dozens of stores in Minnesota.
Dollar General did not respond to a request for comment. The land the company wants to develop is alongside a road with a 55 mph speed limit. It abuts a wildlife management area and a wetland lies across the road.
"It's just not a good fit for us," Sorenson said. "The businesses that are in the area are little mom-and-pop stores that they all work at themselves."
