Grocery options dwindling in many rural Iowa towns

The tough economy has dealt a blow to independent grocers across rural Iowa, leaving fewer shopping choices for the elderly and others who like to shop close to home.

Roy's Hometown Grocery in Vinton last week became the latest in a string of small-town grocers to announce it is closing.

The closing Saturday will leave Vinton with a Fareway chain store. Sundays, when the Fareway is closed, customers will have to patronize an assortment of convenience stores.

The closing of Roy's Hometown Grocery will eliminate six full-time and 10 part-time jobs.

Meanwhile, a Family Foods that closed in Monticello last October remains vacant, leaving local residents to shop at the nearby Fareway, a Walmart Supercenter about 10 minutes away in Anamosa, or a Family Foods in Anamosa.

The fate of Main Street Market in Manchester remains tenuous, owner Don McCurdy said, after the city approved plans to expand the Manchester Walmart, allowing it to sell a full line of groceries. McCurdy presented the Manchester City Council with petitions bearing about 100 signatures opposed to the Walmart store, but the project was too far advanced.

McCurdy and his wife, Kathy, have operated a grocery store in nearby Coggon since 2000. They opened the Manchester store in 2007. Unlike Manchester, Coggon - which once had three grocery stores - would have none if the McCurdy's store closed because of competition from discount stores, he said.

“When you lose your school, your post office or your grocery store, you're just about done as a town,” McCurdy said.

McCurdy said Main Street Market tries to know all of its customers, and supports community events by offering food discounts for community fundraisers and other events.

McCurdy said he and his wife attend community fundraisers when they can. While he respects Walmart's retailing prowess, he said, “I doubt that anyone from Bentonville ever drives up here to go to a pancake breakfast.”

The number of grocery stores with employees dropped from about 1,400 stores in 2005 to about 700 stores in 1995, according to a study by Iowa State University Extension's ReCap program, even as the number of grocery-offering supercenters increased by 175 percent.

Customers often benefit from the lower prices and variety that chain and discount stores provide, but some customers say they will still miss the convenience and personal service of an independent grocery nearby.

“I'll definitely miss it,” said Robert Patava of Vinton. “Now we're going to have one grocery store and it's not open on Sundays.”

Patava said he knew everybody in Roy's Foods, and liked being able to “shoot the breeze” with owner Roy Fish.

Fish declined to comment on his decision to close. He plans to expand Sunday hours at his store in Shellsburg, which has been operated by his family since 1945. The Vinton store had been in operation since February 2005, leasing an older building that had been operated by several other grocers.