When I first read that Quincy Illinois is getting a Target store, my first thought was if they can get a Target store, why not Sedalia?

It's not like the Quincy / Hannibal area is that much more cosmopolitan than the Sedalia/Warrensburg area. My perception is it's always been some area out in the middle of nowhere in downstate Illinois somewhere past Springfield. That's my Chicago upbringing coming out, that anything NOT Chicago is downstate.

So anyway, I held out a little hope that I might find data to support my assertion that if the Quincy area can support a Target, we could too. Those hopes were dashed rather quickly.

According to Wikipedia the "Gem City" has a population of 39,463, nearly double that of Sedalia. And the Quincy Micro area has a population of 77,220. Sedalia's population is only 21,387. And according to the City of Sedalia, our micro area has a population of over 42,225 people.

That's a difference-maker right there. Quincy's in-town population is almost equal to our micro area population.

The median income in Sedalia is $39,804 dollars compared to Quincy's median income of $46,189 according to Data USA. By the way, median income means that's the middle point of what people in the cities earn. Half of the population earns less than the mean, half more. So. a lot of folks earn less than these numbers.

I don't know exactly what drives a retailer like Target, or a restaurant chain like Olive Garden to decide where they plunk down new locations. But I've heard population and income, along with competition drive some of those decisions.

While plenty of Sedalians and even those in other parts of West Central Missouri might enjoy a closer drive to find a Target store, it just doesn't seem to be in the cards for the Sedalia area. The truth hurts, but looking at the numbers Quincy seems like the safer bet. And I'm not sure that's all that safe.

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