RER plans three-day grand opening in rural Perham, offers deals and demos

A new 24,000-square-foot construction supply and equipment rental store west of Perham will spend three days trying to win over Otter Tail County buyers, from contractors and farmers to homeowners and lake-home owners. RER’s grand opening is set for April 30 through May 2 at 48078 Luce St., on a 10-acre site at the corner of U.S. Highway 10 and State Highway 228, about eight miles west of Perham.

The event is being staged as more than a ribbon-cutting. RER says visitors will find door prizes, warehouse tours, food and beverages, tools and equipment demonstrations, and onsite factory representatives. The company’s approach suggests it wants to introduce itself to a broad rural market, not just the construction crews and tradespeople who already buy supplies regularly.

That matters in Perham, a Highway 10 community in Otter Tail County with a population of 3,666 in the county profile and more than 3,000 residents on the city’s own site. In a county that stretches across 1,067 miles of county state-aid highways and county highways, plus 74 bridges, access and convenience play a major role in how rural businesses gain customers and keep them coming back.

RER says it began in 2023 as Renewable Energy Resources, supplying components to wind and solar projects, and that side of the company now reaches 22 states and 50 job sites nationwide. Owner Chris Dankert has been in the business since 1998, and RER says the company has more than 25 years of combined supplier experience. The business describes its work as construction commodities and construction supplies and equipment sales, with services that include civil and erosion control items, tower construction and concrete foundation materials, sourcing, logistics and inventory management, direct supply and fulfillment, and consultation.

The local store is meant to fill a gap that rural buyers often feel most acutely when a project is already underway. RER has said it wants to serve contractors, builders, residential customers, farmers, tradespeople, and lake-home owners, while offering hard-to-find materials that might otherwise mean a long drive to Fargo, Minneapolis, or Brainerd. In a separate preview, Dankert said some items would require a two-hour drive to find elsewhere.

Inventory planning has already involved roughly 400 vendors, and the project has been described as a 24,000-square-foot retail construction supply and rental store built on a 10-acre parcel. RER has also said it is exploring a gas station and convenience store on the remaining land, pending approvals and permits. For rural Perham, the opening signals more than a new storefront. It adds another stop on Highway 10, another reason for local traffic to pause in town, and another sign that businesses still see room to grow along this stretch of Otter Tail County.