Hanging on to the local grocery store is important to rural residents and economies

Brian Horak at Post 60 Market in Nebraska.
(Photo by Kevin Hardy, Stateline)

What knits small towns together? Schools and the local newspaper may come to mind, as does the local grocery store, which many smaller communities are working to save. "Preserving grocery stores has been a perennial challenge for rural communities. Small, often declining populations make it tough to turn a profit in an industry known for its razor-thin margins," reports Kevin Hardy of Stateline. "Increased competition from online retailers. . . have only made things tougher."

Community involvement and investment, however, are working to give some local grocery stores a fighting chance. In Emerson, Nebraska, pop. 824, Post 60 Market "opened four years after the closure of the town’s only grocery store," Hardy writes. "Some 110 community members bought shares, which funded the transformation of a shuttered American Legion post into a brightly lit store packed with fresh and packaged foods."

Proposed legislation in Nebraska aims to "provide some relief for stores like Post 60 Market," Hardy reports. "If passed, the new law would provide grants and loans for small grocers. In neighboring Kansas and Iowa, lawmakers have introduced bills with similar goals, following the lead of states — including Illinois, Minnesota, North Dakota and Oklahoma — that have enacted laws setting up special funds to boost rural grocery stores."

Jillian Linster, interim policy director at the nonprofit Center for Rural Affairs, told Hardy, "After the pandemic, we have seen a lot of these local grocery stores just struggling to keep the doors open with all the economic and workforce challenges we face in the current economy and the competition from the big-box retailers."

Kathryn Draeger "says rural communities need more than just dollar stores and gas stations," Hardy adds. "As the director of regional sustainable development partnerships at the University of Minnesota, Draeger works with grocery stores across the state. Aside from the health benefits of fresh food, she said rural stores are key to building more resilient supply chains since they can procure products from a variety of small vendors."