Northern Indiana native Darrell Marks first met Mark Bailey in 1985 when, as a teenager, Marks and his dad bargain-hunted at Bailey’s new store.
These days, Marks continues to meet with Bailey and several of his family members, offering his own savings.
Bailey’s Discount Center in North Judson, Indiana, received $25,953 in Power Moves® rebates from Kankakee Valley REMC, its local electric cooperative. Marks, the energy advisor for Kankakee Valley REMC, worked with the store on the rebates to upgrade the lighting throughout the 200,000-square-foot store to LEDs, which are brighter and use less electricity than other kinds of lighting.
“We wanted to create a brighter and better experience for customers coming into the shop,” said Dalton Bailey, a manager at Bailey’s Discount Center and the son of Mark Bailey. “We get huge crowds in here. We can get 5,000 people on Saturdays, and we want to make the product look good.”
Dalton said store employees immediately noticed the brighter light from the LEDs, particularly in the back of the store. The family also noticed the lower energy costs from the upgrade.
“Then you had the rebates to get everything done,” he added. “It was huge.”
Mark Bailey opened the store in a 3,000-square-foot building, offering closeout and discontinued products at a discount. The store’s success led to multiple moves through the decades; several previous buildings have become storage to house products. The store sells virtually any kind of item sold in a department store, including furniture, clothing, food, and seasonal items.
“I remember going into the old buildings with my folks,” said Marks, who has remained a loyal customer through the decades with purchases that include a freezer and encouraging friends to buy generators and other sale items. “The customer service is just fantastic.”
Kankakee Valley REMC has supported Bailey’s Discount Center as it has grown. In 2013, the store received $7,670 in Power Moves rebates for previous lighting upgrades, along with rebates in 2018 and 2019 for energy efficiency upgrades that included heating and cooling equipment.
“Kankakee Valley REMC has been great to work with,” Dalton said. “We always have a contact there if we have a question about power or a power issue.”
