Runnings, a Minnesota-based retailer, announced earlier this year an agreement to purchase a longtime North Dakota retail store.

We have two Runnings stores in the Capital Region. One in south Bismarck and another on Main Street in Mandan.  Runnings is well-known across America with stores in 12 states from New York to Montana.

Runnings will now expand to 90 locations nationwide with the purchase of 8 stores in North Dakota.

According to a press release from Runnings, the first Runnings store was founded back in 1947 and is owned by the Dennis and Adele Reed Family.  Runnings employs more than 3,000 people across their privately held retail stores.

Runnings is most known for selling a wide selection of pet supplies, sporting goods (including hunting and fishing equipment), clothing, lawn and garden supplies, housewares, tools, farm supplies, toys, and outdoor equipment.

The Runnings locations in Bismarck and Mandan are expected to get some competition as a similar retail store Mills Fleet Farm is expected to open a new location in Bismarck in the future.

Runnings will have a solid footprint in North Dakota with the purchase of 8 Home of Economy stores sprinkled across the state.

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I grew up with a Home of Economy in my hometown of Grand Forks, North Dakota.  Home of Economy's business model is very similar to Runnings, and they are very well known for its Amish Gallery.

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Upon completing the sale to Runnings, the owners of Home of Economy will continue to operate The Amish Gallery (a high-quality furniture retail store) in a new independent location in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

The 8 Home of Economy retail stores that will transition to Runnings are located in Grand Forks, Grafton, Devils Lake, Rugby, Minot, Williston, Jamestown, and Watford City.

Home of Economy has been in business for 85 years and was founded by Bob and Jean Kiesau.

The purchase of Home of Economy by Runnings is scheduled to be completed by September 4th and all Home of Economy stores will be running under the Runnings' system on September 5th.

The stores should have Runnings signage and branding up between October and the end of November 2024, according to a Runnings manager I spoke to in Bismarck.

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LOOK: See how much gasoline cost the year you started driving

To find out more about how has the price of gas changed throughout the years, Stacker ran the numbers on the cost of a gallon of gasoline for each of the last 84 years. Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (released in April 2020), we analyzed the average price for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline from 1976 to 2020 along with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for unleaded regular gasoline from 1937 to 1976, including the absolute and inflation-adjusted prices for each year.

Read on to explore the cost of gas over time and rediscover just how much a gallon was when you first started driving.

Gallery Credit: Sophia Crisafulli

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