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2 / L River Star News / Wednesday, April 6, 1994 Elk River News Briefs Be wary of people selling home repairs door-to-door Elk River Police ChiefTom Zerwas is warning senior citizens to be wary of people going door-to-door offering to do home repairs. "If anyone comes door-to-door trying to sell home repairs, I wouldn't have anything to do with it," he said. The scam typically works like this: Someone comes to the home of a senior citizen and says the roof needs repair or the driveway needs to be sealcoated. A crew will then do some work, which is often not properly done, and charge an outra- geous fee. Zerwas said there have been problems of that sort reported recently in Austin and Waseca. Similar activity was reported in Elk River several years ago. He advised people to contact the Building and Zoning De- partment or the Police Department if they are contacted by someone selling home repairs door-to-door. Oak trees will be discussed at special meeting tonight The Park and Recreation Commission will meet at 7 p.m. tonight (Wednesday, April 6) to discuss a proposal to turn an oak grove in western Elk River into a park. Park and Recreation Commission Chairman Dave Anderson had asked the City Council last month to try to save a grove of old oak trees which would be impacted by the development of 97 homes on 40 acres between County Road 30 and the Sherburne County Fairgrounds. Developers are now proposing to dedicate 7.5 acres of the woods as park land as away of fulfilling their parkdedication ..., ,iramnntR for 120 acres of residan+.-] 1-- ' _ Retail sales in city drop some from 1990 high by Joni Astrup Associate editor Gross retail sales in Elk River have shown a downward trend over the last three years, ac- cording to a recent report pre- sented to the Elk River Eco- nomic Development Authority (EDA). Consumers are still spending millions of dollars in Elk River each year — $92.5 million in 1992 to be exact — but those figures are down from a five- yearhigh of$116 million in 1990. Elk River Economic Develop- ment Coordinator Bill Rubin, who puttogether the report, said part of the decline maybe due to a sluggish economy. "The other thing that is tough to draw a conclusion on is how many dol- lars are lost to regional malls," he added. Retail sales in Elk River are divided into seven categories in the report, which is based on 1992 Elk River Retail Sales Eating & Drinking Establishments 8 % 1 2 Food Lumber, Stores 39 °i° Hardware, etc. 8 % Misc. Retail 13% Auto Dealers, Service Stations ° ° 1: Furniture/Home Furnishings 1 % 2: Apparel, Accessory Stores 1 % figures from the Minnesota De- partment of Revenue. Food stores led gross sales in the city, with $36 million or 39 percent of sales in 1992, the latest year for which figures are available. While the figure is substantial, it's actually down $3; 34 million or 8.5 percent from 1991. One of the areas showing the greatest decline is auto dealers and service stations, which are lumped into one category. That group accounted for $39 million in sales in 1990, but had slipped to $28 million in 1992. Retail Sales in Elk River and Sherburne County,1988-1992 150 100 0 50 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 Sherburne County 0 Elk River "Maybe people are keeping their cars longer," suggested Ted Saxon of Saxon Motors in Elk River. Other highlights of the report include: *Gross retail sales in Sherburne County in 1992 were estimated at $175 million. That means Elk River accounts for more than half (about 53 per- cent) of the county's sales. • 1992 retail sales were gener- ated by 222 businesses in Elk River. *Elk River's 1992 gross retail sales were down 5 percent from an estimated $96 million in 1991. *Food stores lead gross sales in Elk River at $36 million. Auto dealers and service stations make up the next largest group of retailers in terms of sales, accounting for $28 million or 30 percent of sales in the city. That group is followed by miscella- neous retail at $12 million; lum- ber, hardware, etc. at $7 million and eating and drinking estab- lishments at $7 million.