Shopko Hometown meets small town needs of Cotulla

​COTULLA, LA SALLE COUNTY – More than a year after closing
its doors, a building that served as the main retail outlet for the Eagle Ford
town of Cotulla is getting a new lease on life under a new owner.

The city’s old ALCO store has been reborn as a Shopko
Hometown, a new retail concept for small towns that do not have a Walmart or
other major retailers.

The 26,000-sf store in Cotulla
employs 30 people and now features a broad range of national and private label
brands of clothing, home furnishings, toys, consumer electronics, seasonal
items, lawn and garden products and some grocery items.

ALCO Stores Inc. and its parent company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October 2014. In Texas, ALCO had 32 stores with five of them located in the Eagle Ford Shale and deep South Texas towns of Yoakum, Devine, Cotulla, Hebbronville and George West.​

With the nearest Walmart more than 30 minutes
away in either Carrizo Springs or Pearsall, the retail chain’s mission is
"making life easier for the customers," said Shopko’s CEO Peter
McMahon.