Aberdeen getting back on track, four years after Simplot closure

It’s been four years since Simplot closed its potato processing plant in Aberdeen. The move cut nearly 300 hundred jobs from the local economy of a town with less than 2,000 residents.

The move has changed the town. Boarded up windows, broken glass and lights which used to illuminate signs now sit all around Main Street. Former business fronts now sit empty.

The most recent loss for the town is the Maverick gas station and convenience store, which will close up shop on October 21st.

The gas station had been in Aberdeen for more than 30 years and its departure leaves the town without an around-the-clock convenience store and only one gas station.

But some of the town’s oldest businesses are sticking around.

Wallace Drug has sat on Main Street in Aberdeen, as a pharmacy of one name or another, for the last 108 years. Inside, relics of pharmacists past sit atop the medicine cabinets over the counter.

Dwight Wallace, the current owner and member of Aberdeen’s Chamber of Commerce, said there has been a huge change to both the town and his business since Simplot closed.

“We saw a dramatic decrease in prescription volume and I think our retail front-end hurt as well.”

But some of that he’s been able to slowly build back. The community has seen a small revival of sorts as well.

“A lot of the homes that were vacant have been filled by other people either who’ve found work or are commuting to work,” Wallace said.

But Wallace believes the future is bright for Aberdeen, even though it may never be a major town.

“Yeah, Simplot left and we had kind of a recess, but I feel like that’s been filling,” Wallace said.