Acing it

New Royal City store lets area residents shop locally

When it comes to business, small towns often face kind of a vicious cycle. Many chains won’t locate in a community below a certain population, which means people have to drive to a larger city to shop. And the more shopping they do out of town, the fewer things they buy in their hometown. That’s been a problem in Royal City, where there are only so many things you can buy without driving to Othello (24 miles away) or Moses Lake (31 miles) or the Tri-Cities (75 miles). The new Ace Hardware store, which opened in September, could go a long way toward easing that problem. “We saw the need for it here in the community,” said Josh Fanning, one of the owners. “And we just believe that we can be a source for all of South Grant County to find lumber, feed and hardware goods.”