Business Opportunities - Sweetgrass, Montana
When I got through the Canada-US border at Sweetgrass, Montana - I found that there was a very limited amount of businesses around the border. There was a duty free shop/gas station, a biker bar (I know this through the sign on the front of the bar that said “Welcome Bikers” and the references to places that are synonymous with biking such as Sturgis) that also served as a hotel and a café (the café was currently awaiting a new renter), a rest stop for travellers and another gas station next to the bar (which also served as a cafe). You would think, being near the Canada United States border, there’d be a bit more business given the traffic from the point of entry. This is bad news because none of the places here in Sweetgrass, have Internet access. This is a big problem because I could not post to my blog nor contact my girlfriend.
There can be a lot of money (one assumes) to be made if certain companies helped invest in making Sweetgrass into an active destination and a place for travellers to rest either before or after the long border process. This could go for Coultts, Alberta on the other side of the border because that was just as vacant. This would also spur competition between the businesses and thus, improvement. And from what I can see from staying one night in the hotel here in Sweetgrass, a little competition might very well wake the repair man. Of course, considering that this is a shitty ass biker bar, maybe not. Let’s look at the facts shall we:
The Bathroom - There was only one bathroom for the hotel which had 2 toilets (one of which was out of order), 2 sinks (one of which, also out of order - unless a sink with no knobs is not considered out of order) and a shower that had no hot water what-so-ever. I was told that the hot water took a bit to heat up. Well, I stood there for 20 minutes and the water was still as cold as a witches’ teat. And I know it wasn’t a Montana-wide problem because I got hot water at the O’Haire Motel.
The Rooms - There is much that could be said about the rooms here in the hotel. First, there is the blatant lack of security simply due to the fact that the hotel rooms did not have locks on the doors. Suppose you were running from a crazy ex and you needed a place to stay while you were waiting for a Canadian visa? What would you do? Apparently, pray that they don’t blow your head clean off. The rooms did not have television, the beds were in terrible shape, no telephone, no wifi, no room service, nothing. This was literally a terrible place to stay due to the limitation on services available to people.
The Cafe - The Cafe here in the hotel was closed simply due to the fact that they could not find a renter for the place. Well, that’s a real shame because if they could provide room services, they would be able to make more money by having integrated businesses. They could make money from both renting the rooms out and by selling food via the cafe. And plus, they could market to the people heading north and south who might need a bite to eat or something like that. I heard from a woman that worked there that they would get a lot more traffic in the “busy season” with USDA meat checkers, truckers, bikers and other types of individuals that would frequent a dump like this.
To increase the number of businesses here in Sweetgrass, Montana (such as hotels, cafes, et cetera) would increase competition and thus, spur the need for more services and better services to be provided to travellers. Like, we could see Wireless Internet access provided to travellers in the hotel, cleaner rooms, room services and other such services made available to travellers who may very well be stuck at the border. I’ve also noticed that the two Automated Teller Machines here in Sweetgrass were down and had no money what-so-ever.
Tags: That Other Life
April 12th, 2007 at 10:14 am
Its amazing you’ve traveled so much on $200 you couldn’t get out of the bank. Weren’t you just in portland? Do you have somewhere you are going or are you just wandering around waiting for someone to volunteer to pay for your ticket to the uk?
April 16th, 2007 at 9:13 am
I lived in Sweet Grass during the 1970’s, at the time we hade 5 bars, 3 cafes, a grocery store, two gas stations and two hotels. Thanks to the bust of the oil industry we took an econimical hit. There is/were not enough locals to support Sweet Grass and most tourists even back then wanted to just breeze through the border and possibly stop for fuel and a quick meal. The bike bar has been in the same family over 60 years and every holds a St Patrick Day feast free of charge.
May 17th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
The only thing that is dark or evil about your blog is YOU! You rant and rave about how terrible Sweet Grass is. If you would have stopped winning about not haveing wifi and took some time to talk to some of the people that were in that so called shitty ass biker bar you may have found out they there are some of the most welcoming and helpful people you would ever meet. But instead you decided to trash our little town. After reading some of your blogs it seems to me that you are just looking for someone to feel sorry for you.
May 17th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
Amie, I never said there were any problems with the people. In fact, I firmly agree that the people who worked at the biker bar were very nice. I’m not trashing your town, but I am saying that the facilities could use a bit of work.