Booming Business | Video

Alex Hagan | 1/26/2013

Dickinson`s population keeps growing. There are about 25,000 people living in the Queen City, but it`s expected to be more like 50,000 by 2035. With more people, comes the need for more restaurants and retail establishments. The city has now become a hub for new businesses.

Players Sports Bar and Grill hasn`t even opened yet, but has already created a buzz around the community. Wayne Rau has lived in Dickinson for some time now and he and his business partners always knew the Queen City was a great spot for a sports bar. "I want to stay here and that was part of the reason behind putting up this building."

The bar and grill isn`t the only new business coming to town. Since the boom hit Dickinson, more retail and restaurant establishments have had their eyes on the city because current restaurants and stores are crowded.

"What we already have feels overstretched sometimes," said Cooper Whitman of the Chamber of Commerce.

There are 533 members in the Chamber of Commerce, but around a quarter of them have joined just this past year. Whitman says many residents go to communities like Bismarck to shop. But now the city is starting to get many of those same businesses. "We want to keep as many here in Dickinson to help Dickinson to entice more retail and food service growth."

If more businesses come, more will continue to come.

"Business breathes more business," said Ray Ann Kilen of the Small Business Development Center.

While residents may go to bigger communities to shop, Kilen says Dickinson is a big component of smaller communities in western North Dakota like Belfield and Killdeer. "To those communities, this is their shopping hub."

The city, unlike other oil hub communities, seems to be attracting families as well. "Dickinson`s special, not just because of the businesses coming here, but because families are coming here," said Whitman.

For Rau, he plans on sticking around for a while. "This building is going to be here after the oil leaves."

Even when the oil activity ends, Dickinson will be the home of future businesses no matter what population estimates are.

Some of the new stores coming to Dickinson on the west part of town include Cash Wise Foods, Menards, Petco and Shoe Carnival. Groundbreaking has already begun on all stores.

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