ROCHELLE — On Thursday, March 21, a ribbon cutting ceremony and grand opening were held for Runnings at 1240 N. 7th St. in Rochelle.
The space was previously R.P. Home & Harvest. In April 2023, Runnings, a Minnesota-based retailer, reached an agreement to purchase R.P. Home & Harvest, expanding its footprint to 80 locations, serving customers in 12 states from New York to Montana.
Runnings has been in business for over 75 years and is one of the top farm, home and outdoor-store companies in America. The Rochelle store has spent the past year undergoing a brand and operations transition.
Seth Holmgren, manager of the Rochelle Runnings, spoke at the March 21 ribbon cutting that saw attendance from Rochelle Chamber of Commerce member business owners and local officials. The store saw a lot of traffic during its three-day grand opening promotion.
“I know that this building has gone through a lot of name changes,” Holmgren said. “Hopefully that stops today and this is the name that everybody is going to come to love. I'd like to thank the staff here. They've done a tremendous job converting this store in eight short months. We've moved every product and aisle and expanded selection on everything. Hopefully we're meeting the community's needs. If we're not meeting your needs, let me know, and I'm going to track it down for you. For our staff, we've had people come from Montana and Ohio to help us out with this. When you sit there and hear about businesses referred to as family, this is truly support like family with this company. It's great to see the support from the community and we want to support this community.”
Chamber Executive Director Tricia Herrera led the proceedings at the ribbon cutting and said the chamber is excited to have Runnings in the space in the city’s northern corridor. She thanked the company and its management for their investment in Rochelle.
“Sometimes when stores change to different ownership, they kind of lose that small-town thing,” Herrera said. “And right away when we heard this was going to be Runnings, they reached out to us and said they wanted to be part of the chamber. And we were really excited when we heard someone local, Seth, was going to be the manager here. It's exciting to have you here and to have a quality company here in this space and storefront. Sometimes they sit empty, but you guys didn't do that. You stepped up and I've heard really great things about this place. Welcome.”
Rochelle Mayor John Bearrows spoke at the event as well and talked about the agricultural community that Rochelle is having access to farm products at Runnings.
“It allows people to buy what they need,” Bearrows said. “And it's something we were missing. On behalf of the city, we want to say that you now have partnerships with the chamber and the city. We work together. It became very apparent back during the COVID-19 pandemic that the city cares for small and large businesses alike, whether it's working with our commercial/industrial taskforce, or working with a small mom and pop operation that has a storefront downtown. We're here for you if there's anything we can do that's within our power. Welcome to Rochelle.”
