If Fry's didn't know much about the charming Village of Morton before, we
certainly do now. Yours sounds like a great community in which to live,
work, and raise a family.
Mr. Randy Fry was very impressed with your inquiry about locating a Fry's
Store in your community, and he asked me to reply. He (and our other
partners) are flattered by your loyalty and interest.
However, Fry's has no expansion plans for Illinois for the foreseeable
future. Ms. Uhlig, your information about Morton has been passed along to
our real estate and store development staff, and we'll keep this info in
our files, should our expansion plans change.
Ryan, although at present we cannot offer to bring a Fry's to your town,
we commend you for your idea on how to improve your community, and thank
you (and your Dad) for being such loyal fans of Fry's. We hope you can
occasionally visit our store in Downers Grove, outside Chicago. You
probably also know that the same Fry's quality, selection, and prices on
products are available through our on line Store at Frys.com.
Ryan, building and opening a Fry's Store is a significant undertaking.
The cost is obviously in the millions of dollars. Just to help with your
project, here are just a few of the things we consider when we decide on a
location:
1. Is there enough population to successfully support a store of our size?
There is no exact number, however, upwards of 700,000 people (in the area)
is a good range.
2. We look for a location where there is land (or an existing building)
suitable to build a store of 140,000 to 150,000 square feet and several
acres of space for parking.
3. Good road and highway access is a key to helping our customers
experience convenient shopping.
4. The availability of a dependable workforce made up of
customer-friendly, tech-oriented employees.
Again, these are but a few of the criteria we consider when we are
planning to locate a Store in a new community.
Fry's is grateful for your interest in our company, Ryan, and in your
inquiry about locating in Morton. While we have no current expansion
plans in Illinois, we hope this response will help you in your school
assignment.