Residents of rural towns come together to keep local, independent groceries open

As rural America's population continues to shrink, so does the number of local businesses. Many, including local grocery stores, are forced to close when large chain stores like Wal-Mart move nearby. (Kansas City Star photo by Rich Sug)

The loss of local groceries leaves many senior citizens and poor residents living in food deserts, meaning they often have no transportation and live far from chain groceries, Richard Mertens of the Christian Science Monitor reports. 87 rural groceries have closed in Kansas since 2007 and over half of Iowa's groceries were closed from 1976 to 2000. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that over 1 million rural households live in food deserts.

Some people in small towns are determined to keep their groceries open. When the grocery in Onaga, Kan. burned, the town rebuilt the store itself and persuaded a grocer from Kansas City to locate there, Mertens reports. The grocer agreed to stay 20 years in exchange for the new building. In Leeton, Mo., local high-school students decided to keep their store open by running it themselves. Entrepreneurship and agriculture students earn class credit for operating The Bulldog Express. In other places, like Walsh, Colo., local residents bought their grocery after it closed five years ago and turned it into a thriving business. A similar story comes from Washburn, Ill., where townspeople bought shares in their store for $50 apiece. (Read more)