McKenzie County Farmer - Latest News

Steve Hallstrom
Special to The Farmer

It’s the end of an era in Watford City. The good news is that the Veeder Family isn’t going anywhere.
Meyer’s Department Store closed in January after 13 years of outfitting the region from its storefront location on 200 West Main Street in Watford City. It was a store that was known for, well….just about everything in apparel for everyone.
Need a dress for Easter Sunday? Meyer’s had it.
Nice pair of pants for work? Meyer’s had it.
Just a comfy old flannel shirt for the weekend? Yep, you guessed it.
Recently, store owner Beth Veeder sat down with Scott Hennen on the “What’s On Your Mind” radio program on KTGO Radio and looked back on a great run downtown.
“Back in 2011, the job that I was doing had ended, and I really was kind of at odds of what I was going to do next,” says Veeder. “And Linda Knutson, who owned Meyer’s at the time, had kind of brought me in and put the idea in my head, ‘would you like to buy the business?’’
It made sense to Veeder because the store was, in a way, part of the family already.
“Both my girls, Lindsay and Jesse, had worked for her while they were in school, and you know, Shirley Meyer owned the business before Linda did, and Shirley was a dear friend of ours. And I was like, well, I’ve not done this before (laughs). But part of me really wanted to be a part of the Watford City community because my husband was such a big part of Watford City and I worked remotely for about 10 years and really hadn’t been inside the community. So, I was like, why not?”
Veeder says she couldn’t have done it without Linda.
“It was a challenge. I had no idea what was going to happen, but Linda helped me through it. What I always say is she was such a good salesperson that she sold me the business and I hardly knew what I was getting into, but that’s how good she was. And she really helped me through the first year getting started, and it just became a family business.”
Through decades of social and fashion change, Meyer’s was that place that just knew how to put great apparel combinations together. In the spring, there were fresh blues and greens. In the fall, there was always a great variety of rich earth tones. The staff took pride in creating outfits that made buying a great ensemble easy. If you wanted to splurge, there was something for you. If you needed a bargain, you could always find one. The store evolved over time, but it always had something to make you look good.
“It is iconic,” says Veeder, “in the fact that this corner of Main Street has always served the community in some way or another. I mean, there are relics in that store in the basement that we kind of hauled up and made a part of our decor. There’s an old TV from like, gosh, probably the sixties. I think it was also a shoe store at one point, because there are all kinds of stands for shoes. And it’s just really incredible what you uncover when you dig down into the depths of that store.”
Veeder says at first, she didn’t know what to expect, but if she focused on helping people, things would work out.
“I don’t think that we knew what was going to happen with the oil industry and in 2011 it was just starting,” says Veeder. “And I had no clue how that was going to impact the business. I mean, I really was hoping we’d sell like 10 sweaters. That was kind of my goal. But we were the only shop in town and before we knew it, people started coming in and they would bring their families, and part of it, for me, was going back to where I kind of came from in a social work background, and I really felt that I was able to insert my social work mind into helping others that came into this northern wild, cold country and not really knowing what to expect. It was a surprise to all of us.”
Closing the store was a hard choice to make, says Veeder.
“It was very difficult. But at my age, my family and my friends are retired, and my sisters are retired too. I need to spend more time with my family, and it just became something that was the right thing to do for me.”
The world has changed dramatically with the advent of mail order shipping and social media shopping. And of course, everything seems to be different in the post-COVID era.  
“I think the changes that were happening, that you didn’t really foresee, were things like going to market; that’s how we bought our inventory and our merchandise,” says Veeder. “We didn’t have like an opportunity to do online shopping for our merchandise like wholesale. And that has evolved to the point where you really don’t even have to go to markets anymore, although I do love to do that. You can just order online and bring it into your business. Online shopping has also cut into retail box stores. And so, all of that was just kind of evolving and making a huge change. I wanted to bring in merchandise that people could buy in other larger areas and just make it like, ‘oh, I can get it here instead of having to go elsewhere or get it online.’ And we always did something for everybody. So, we did some children’s clothes, men’s clothes, and women’s retail.”
Veeder still owns Door 204, the coffee shop right next door, and while she jokes that she doesn’t know how to make coffee, she does have that base covered, as her daughter Lindsay runs the store day to day. Knowing how to make coffee is a double-edged sword, it seems.
“I figure as long as you know how to do it, they’ll make you do it (laughs). So, I’ll pop in there and see the customers. The customers are what I’m going to miss the most. I mean, I’ve developed really solid relationships with the people that came in. And even if they didn’t want to shop, we would have conversations. I got to know them, and I got to know their families. So that was huge for me. It’s just so incredible what Watford has done. I wish I would’ve kept more of a journal and I wish I would’ve kept more notes on all the states that people came from and what their stories were. I mean, I heard them, but I didn’t document it.”
But, Veeder says, those conversations only took place because Meyer’s Department Store was downtown. She says it was the best place to be. The only place to be. “There are now other retail businesses in this town. I mean, Main Street is booming, it really is. And Main Street has such a charm. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else except for Main Street, Watford.”

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