Springfield General Store brings new retail option to Main Street

SPRINGFIELD, S.D. — After decades of watching retail businesses close, Springfield has a new storefront on Main Street that offers something the community hasn't seen in years. Vance and Heather Branton opened the Springfield General Store on Oct. 3, bringing together outdoor recreation supplies, apparel, gifts, locally made products and a cafe. The couple believe it is the first new retail business to open in Springfield in about 30 years. For the Brantons, the project was about more than opening a store. It was an opportunity to preserve a prominent downtown building, fill a gap in the local retail market and show that Springfield and Bon Homme County are worth investing in. “When the bank told me they were building a new bank, I said ... ‘before you sell this to anybody, please let me know, because this needs to be retail. We can’t have another building just shuttered here in downtown,’” Vance said.

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