With a Walmart on the edge of Arkansas City, I was surprised to find a department store downtown. When I expressed my surprise to the clerk who was helping me, she said, somewhat testily I thought, "Well, we have better quality. That's why people shop here."
One of the Chamber people (in the beer garden) related that the Stage stores are part of a chain that specializes in little towns. She said their average store is about one tenth the size of a Walmart, "but they seem to do just fine."
