Rural Groceries Find New Ways to Stay Alive

US News and World Report: Rural Groceries Find New Ways to Stay Alive

In some parts of America, a dying grocery store can threaten a town's well-being

… The problem extends into neighboring states of America's bread basket. Of 215 Kansas grocery stores in towns with 2,500 residents or less, 82 have closed in the last five years, says David Procter, director of the Center for Engagement and Community Development at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kans. A look at the USDA's map of so-called "food deserts" offers a glimpse into the nationwide scope of the problem of grocery access. Food deserts are defined as low-income communities where either 500 people or 33 percent of residents are either one mile or, in rural areas, 10 miles or further from a grocery store. While most people living in food deserts are in urban areas, vast portions of plains and western states like Nebraska, the Dakotas, Minnesota, and Colorado are considered food deserts. …

… In addition to simply creating an inconvenience for rural shoppers, the death of a local market can fray the fabric of the community that depends on it. Pulling the regular commerce of a grocery store, which many people may visit several times a week, into the city could spell disaster for other retail and services that might make up a shopper's list of errands. Customers may pick up a gallon of milk and some bread at the store and decide to also get a hair cut, for example. …

…"Increasingly city government or county government is getting involved," says Procter. Sometimes a local government will provide taxpayer money to build or stock the store, asking that the store eventually pay back the loan. In this case, the return on the government's investment is simply a healthy business that anchors the town's economy.

Other communities have gone the cooperative route, where citizens own the business and members pay dues in exchange for benefits like special deals.

The co-op model is one reason why Anita, Iowa's Main Street Market is alive today. When a local businessman was having trouble keeping it going, explains Larsen, a group of residents got together and opened the store as a cooperative in 2006. In 2010, he bought the store from them to run it himself.

Still other towns have gotten kids involved. In Arthur, Neb., a village of 117 people, high school students helped to open the Wolf Den Market in 2000. Now, the store is a co-op, and it saves residents a lengthy trip to nearby Ogallala or Hyannis to get food. …