Exhibit 31.1

CERTIFICATION
PURSUANT TO                RULE 13A-14 OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934,
                             AS ADOPTED PURSUANT TO                     SECTION 302 OF
THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF

I, Bruce C. Dale, President and
Chief Executive Officer of Duckwall-ALCO Stores, Inc. (the registrant) certify that:

|1. | I
have reviewed the registrants quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended May 1,
2005 (this report);
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|2. | Based
on my knowledge, this quarterly report does not                       contain any untrue
statement of a material fact or omit to                       state a material fact
necessary to make the statements                       made, in light of the
circumstances under which such                       statements were made, not misleading
with respect to the                       period covered by this quarterly report;
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|3. | Based
on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other                       financial
information included in this quarterly report,                       fairly present in
all material respects the financial                       condition, results of
operations and cash flows of the                       registrant as of, and for, the
periods presented in this                       quarterly report;
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|4. | The
registrants other certifying officers and I are                       responsible for
establishing and maintaining disclosure                       controls and procedures (as
defined in Exchange Act Rules                       13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the
registrant and we have:
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| | (a) | designed
such disclosure controls and procedures, or                       caused such disclosure
controls and procedures to be                       designed under our supervision, to
ensure that material                       information relating to the registrant,
including its                       consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by
others                       within those entities, particularly during the period in
                      which this quarterly report is being prepared;
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| | (b) | evaluated
the effectiveness of the registrants disclosure                       controls and
procedures and presented in this report our                       conclusions about the
effectiveness of the disclosure                       controls and procedures as of the
end of the period                       covered by this report based on such evaluation
and
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| | (c) | disclosed
in this report any change in the registrants                       internal control over
financial reporting that occurred                       during the registrants most
recent fiscal quarter that                       has materially affected, or is
reasonably likely to                       materially affect, the registrants internal
control over                       financial reporting; and
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|5. | The
registrants other certifying officers and I have                       disclosed, based
on our most recent evaluation of internal                       control over financial
reporting, to the registrants                       auditors and the audit committee of
registrants board of                       directors (or persons performing the
equivalent function);
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| | (a) | all
significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in                       the design or
operation of internal control over financial                       reporting which are
reasonably likely to adversely affect                       the registrants ability to
record, process, summarize and                       report financial information; and
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| | (b) | any
fraud, whether or not material, that involves                       management or other
employees who have a significant role                       in the registrants internal
control over financial                       reporting.
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Date:  June 10, 2005

| | /s/
      Bruce C. Dale
      Bruce C. Dale 
      President and Chief Executive Officer
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