Local businesses finding their niche

By NABIL SHAHEEN

Hays Daily News

It officially began on the 29th of September in 1997.

The development of the Chestnut Street District was fairly young at that time but the concept of a general store was not.

That is how Norman and Sandy Keller wanted to approach the opening of C.S. Post and Company, 117 W. 11th St. in Hays.

“The whole concept was to be a general store,” Norman Keller said. “We just wanted a store that could be an environment where you can come in and buy gifts for anyone, any age. We try to put together a unique mix of products.”

The store was and still is a very unique concept not only in northwest Kansas, but across the United States.

Niche shops like that of C.S. Post have provided for unique shopping opportunities in Hays.

“(Niche marketing) has expanded more diversity among retailers,” said Gina Riedel, executive director of the Hays Area Chamber of Commerce. “It offers visitors and residents greater variety in shopping. It increases our tax base as well as our job base. And with our revitalization project it also adds to the overall aesthetics of downtown.”

Sunell Koerner and Ken Fitch, co-owners of KMA Productions and Hays City Mercantile, have been at their building at 809 Main St. since 1992.

“Shopping is a fun thing for people to do,” Koerner said. “It's so fun to go somewhere that reveals the character of a community and that's what niche shopping is all about. That warm, fuzzy feeling that that person has put his heart and soul into.”

Koerner and Fitch decided to expand their video production side of the store after Fitch's wife and family “said he ought to sell the furniture he makes instead of giving it away to relatives,” Koerner said.

Since then, it has expanded to having the video production side on the second floor and a unique market on the first floor offering a wide variety of furniture, foods and everything in between.

“I just really think niche shopping like that fills a void that the chains can't touch,” Koerner said. “For the most part it's still what they (chains) are fed. Here you have the opportunity to go out and get to know people. I personally know the owners of most of the companies we deal with.”

For the Kellers at C.S. Post, it's about bringing that variety all under one roof.

“We don't know of anybody who has brought together the mix of items we have in the store,” Norman Keller said. “We still haven't seen anybody that's done what we've done here.”

The Kellers would know.

Annual trips are made across the country and all over the world to catch up on the latest trends, fashions and furnishings.

Atlanta and New York City are staples of their annual journeys, but they make other stops in smaller and larger markets including, on occasion, Paris.

“We are constantly searching for new products,” Norman Keller said. “We travel to multiple markets every year searching just to see what the trends are, what's happening there.”

As for what they come back with, sometimes it is welcomed with open arms and pockets, other times, it just sits on the shelf.

“You never know what's going to work,” Sandy Keller said. “You just have to try it.”

It is that fervor to always market and try new things that attracts customers to the store.

“I love looking around the store because they always have something new,” Jody Warner, Hays, said. “There's always something neat, something that's in style.”

The allure of the store, the Kellers said, is not just shopping and buying but also a new experience unlike any other from the minute the customer walks through the door until the minute they walk out.

“Other people say this doesn't seem like we're in Hays,” Sandy Keller said. “It's something to do. People just come in and say it's something to do. I'm bored today so I just decided to come down and see what's new.”

The answer to what's new is being answered on a daily basis at C.S. Post.

“Day in and day out,” Norman Keller said, “UPS and FedEx trucks, it's like Christmas every day.”

Clients and customers visiting the store range from all over Ellis County, Kansas and country.

And since late 2000, thanks to the power of the Internet and their Web site, www.cspost.com, business has now gone international. In early February, the Kellers said they had an order from Japan.

“We're definitely wanting to continually grow our Web site, that's a major goal,” Norman Keller said. “Eventually, hopefully, we'll have a catalog because that's our No. 1 request.”

Liz Dresie has been working at C.S. Post for almost two years and shopping there more than three.

Working behind the counter has given Dresie a lot more knowledge of the inner workings of the store that were far from anything she knew about as a customer, she said.

“I know all the stuff we have which is a lot more than just the customer knows, we have a lot of stuff,” Dresie said. “I really enjoy working with the people and I like the one-on-one.”

As for the floral arrangements, Norman Keller says he may be biased because it is, after all, his specialty.

Regeena's Flowers — part of the offerings at C.S. Post — produces about 32 percent of sales in the store which include about 20 to 30 floral arrangements for weddings per year.

Warner is getting married next year in June, and just like she heard about the store by word of mouth from friends, her appreciation for the flowers went the same way.

“I've been buying flowers from them for years and I love the quality of flowers,” Warner said. “They always do a really good job and make sure that everything is there and delivered on time. They did my friend's wedding and they were awesome.”

With two employees at the cash registers and available for help and the Kellers there, Warner is personally greeted by each one of them as she walks in to check on the status of her order and other options she has.

“It's such a small business that we get to work with everybody,” Dresie said. “Like at Wal-Mart, you have a billion people who work there and here it's about 10. I like working with this small group of people.”

That's the feel that the managers of the store are aiming for their patrons, just like the old days Keller said.

“It's kind of like a general store would have been,” Norman Keller said. “They were constantly getting stuff in. It's where you went to get your staples, but also your gift items and things like that.”

With such a broad demographic of customers, products and services, the Kellers were unable to pinpoint the typical C.S. Post customer or a word that would describe their store.

For one faithful customer, that was easy.

“It's awesome,” Warner said.

And that's what it's about.

“Niche markets are a lot of what people are looking for,” Riedel said. “You can go to the chain stores in many communities. The nice thing about the niche market retailers is it's a variety. They can offer a lot of different things that you won't find in other stores.”

Sports reporter Nabil Shaheen can be reached at (785) 628-1081, ext. 127, or by e-mail at

nshaheen@dailynews.net.