Kentucky Teamwork Results in Statewide Parking Lot Succes Story

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NRMCA's team of national resource directors (NRD's) have teamed with Kentucky state promoters and ready mix producers to convince at least one prominent national retailer to use concrete for its parking lots throughout the Bluegrass State, reports NRMCA Southeast Senior National Resource Director Amy Miller. She notes that in Kentucky most parking lots are designed in asphalt, minus a few areas that are concrete-friendly. But the efforts of NRMCA, NRD's and Kentucky Ready-Mixed Concrete Association (KRMCA) member companies have resulted in most Dollar General parking lots being placed with concrete.

Across the state, Dollar Generals are being built mostly with concrete parking lots. "Just driving at night, you come across a well-lit new Dollar General, and by being in the industry, know exactly what that parking lot is made of - CONCRETE," said KRMCA's Brett Ruffing.

KRMCA and NRMCA member companies, The Wells Group, LLC and the Federal Materials Company (FMC), have played a part in the success of concrete parking lots in Kentucky. The Wells Group based out of West Liberty, KY, has supplied the concrete for over 10 Dollar Generals in the Eastern Kentucky market, with three more on the books for this year. The Wells Group has supplied concrete to Dollar Generals in the following cities: Frenchburg, South Williamson, Booneville, Salyersville, Sandy Hook, Dorton, Morehead, two in West Liberty and Dorton. According to The Wells Group, some of these stores were designed in concrete, but most were flipped to concrete, Ruffing said.

To do this, The Wells Group sat down with the contractor on the job and spoke about the savings and durability by using concrete - savings on lighting, brighter at night, saving in the long run without having to come back in a few years to re-seal and patch, and simply that concrete will last the lifetime of the store. Other times, they were able to flip by giving a price to another subcontractor to bid on the job, and concrete won in price. According to the Wells Group, it was fairly easy to do, Ruffing said.

FMC has also had huge successes with Dollar Generals in Western Kentucky. Some of the Dollar Generals it has supplied lots include: Fairdealing, Fancy Farm, Grand Rivers, Kuttawa, Lake City, Ledbetter, Mayfield, Murray, Paducah Southside, Sumsonia and Wingo. Some of the stores FMC has supplied had concrete designed parking lots and others did not. Its biggest success has been having a working relationship with a contractor that happens to do a lot of work for Dollar Generals. According to FMC, if you can have this relationship with your contractors, they are more willing to help you out so you can get the work, Ruffing added.

Other KRMCA members reporting Dollar Generals located in Kentucky include Owensboro, Henderson, Silver Grove (shown here), Danville, Frankfort, Scottsville, Brownsville, Bowling Green and others that have not been reported to the KRMCA office; there are some currently under construction, like a unit in Alexandria. There have been a total of 33 reported Dollar General stores in the Commonwealth of Kentucky to the KRMCA.

For more information, contact Amy Miller at amiller@nrmca.org or Brett Ruffing at bruffing@krmca.org.