Community gets its grocery store back

LEETON, Mo. | Two minutes after the door opened Friday, a retired farmer laid down money for a Hershey bar and two cheese sticks.

And just like that, this little town finally had a grocery store.

Granted, it’s not a fancy supermarket. It’s no bigger than a two-car garage, it’s open only four days a week, and it’s in an old bank building — and the bank still uses the vault.

But the 600 or so people in Leeton, about 15 miles south of Warrensburg, are proud of their new store, and indeed they should be. It might be the only one like it in the state, maybe the country.

Leeton High School opened the store, and students will run it. Why? To teach kids practical skills and to save their parents long drives to the market.

In the end, the store just might help save their town. …