Rural grocery stores on the decline (for sale, houses, to buy)

[lookingaround12345]

Originally Posted by Teak

As one who drives across the state quite a bit, I can say that most small towns have a gas station that is fairly well stocked for essential groceries even if the choices are limited.

A Casey's, Cenex, Shell, or Freedom exist in most towns, and sometimes all four. Even little Jasper in SW Minnesota has a Jasper Mini-Mart, which looks more like a small grocery store inside than it does a gas station.

The kids always cheer when I get back from the Dollar General and announce “Slim Jims, Captain Crunch and Mountain Dew for dinner tonight again!”

[my54ford]

Originally Posted by lookingaround12345

The kids always cheer when I get back from the Dollar General and announce “Slim Jims, Captain Crunch and Mountain Dew for dinner tonight again!”

Thanks for the snarky comment but they carry a bit more than that...
https://www.dollargeneral.com/produc...de-dishes.html

Kwik Trips carry more than that as well..
https://www.kwiktrip.com/nutrition-ingredients

Ultimately these stores are filling a niche in small rural communities abandoned by the larger stores...

[jmgg]

Originally Posted by my54ford

Thanks for the snarky comment but they carry a bit more than that...
https://www.dollargeneral.com/produc...de-dishes.html

Kwik Trips carry more than that as well..
https://www.kwiktrip.com/nutrition-ingredients

Ultimately these stores are filling a niche in small rural communities abandoned by the larger stores...

They do fill a necessary niche. Problem is that the PRICES at convenience stores don't make them your first stop for buying your groceries to feed your family.

The more we lose the mom & pop stores, grocery stores and others, the less competition and even the prices of what remains like the Walmarts and Dollar Generals will ratchet up.

Years ago a Walmart came into my college town and immediately undercut the privately owned grocery stores there. Eventually BOTH of the privately owned stores closed leaving Walmart and a HyVee as the only game in town. Guess what happened to their prices after that?

I don't know what the answer is. I guess it's the sign of the times.

[lookingaround12345]

Originally Posted by my54ford

Thanks for the snarky comment but they carry a bit more than that...
https://www.dollargeneral.com/produc...de-dishes.html

Kwik Trips carry more than that as well..
https://www.kwiktrip.com/nutrition-ingredients

Ultimately these stores are filling a niche in small rural communities abandoned by the larger stores...

It was simply meant to be humorous. I know they carry more I also get my beer there. So it is really all you need in a 10x10 mile square area.

[TheGrandViking]

Originally Posted by jmgg

They do fill a necessary niche. Problem is that the PRICES at convenience stores don't make them your first stop for buying your groceries to feed your family.

The more we lose the mom & pop stores, grocery stores and others, the less competition and even the prices of what remains like the Walmarts and Dollar Generals will ratchet up.

Years ago a Walmart came into my college town and immediately undercut the privately owned grocery stores there. Eventually BOTH of the privately owned stores closed leaving Walmart and a HyVee as the only game in town. Guess what happened to their prices after that?

I don't know what the answer is. I guess it's the sign of the times.

Nice concise summary of the issues related to food deserts in rural areas. I don't know the solution either, but I believe it leads to an increase in both processed food and sugar consumption. This might be the reason for higher severe obesity rates in rural areas vs. cities for children.

https://www.usnews.com/news/health-c...20significant.

[jmgg]

Originally Posted by TheGrandViking

Nice concise summary of the issues related to food deserts in rural areas. I don't know the solution either, but I believe it leads to an increase in both processed food and sugar consumption. This might be the reason for higher severe obesity rates in rural areas vs. cities for children.

https://www.usnews.com/news/health-c...20significant.

You know, this issue in a state like Minnesota, really isn't much of an issue. Maybe with the possible exception of the far north wooded area. Even in the "desert" around Jasper Minnesota in the SW corner that was mentioned by Teak, within a drive of 20 miles you will discover 6 towns WITH full grocery stores.

The death of the small town grocery store is very real, just not to as great of extent in Minnesota. The only people this really hurts is the elderly in the small towns as everyone else nowadays is pretty mobile and often driving to the nearest larger town for employment.

[TheGrandViking]

Originally Posted by jmgg

You know, this issue in a state like Minnesota, really isn't much of an issue. Maybe with the possible exception of the far north wooded area. Even in the "desert" around Jasper Minnesota in the SW corner that was mentioned by Teak, within a drive of 20 miles you will discover 6 towns WITH full grocery stores.

The death of the small town grocery store is very real, just not to as great of extent in Minnesota. The only people this really hurts is the elderly in the small towns as everyone else nowadays is pretty mobile and often driving to the nearest larger town for employment.

https://northstarpolicy.org/addressi...-grocery-store

A recent report published by Wilder Research examined Minnesota’s grocery store landscape and compared it to the rest of the United States. The researchers found that Minnesota ranked as the seventh-worst state in the US in terms of low retail access to healthy food. 1.6 million Minnesotans have low retail access to healthy food, which is nearly a third of the entire state’s population. Additionally, around 230,000 Minnesotans living in rural areas are at least 10 miles away from a grocery store. 16% of the census tracts in Minnesota qualified as federally designated food deserts, meaning that those tracts have a large low-income population as well as significant distances from healthy food. These census tracts are both in rural and urban areas of Minnesota. The urban census tracts had a larger population of people impacted by food deserts, but the rural tracts had a disproportionate number of food deserts relative to population size. The populations that had the worst access to healthy foods were Greater Minnesotans, seniors, the poor, and racial minorities. Below is a map generated by the USDA, showing the areas considered food deserts in Minnesota, along with one for the Twin Cities metro area. The green areas are census tracts that have a significant portion of people living in poverty AND low vehicle accessibility. For those interested, this link leads to the data showing the census tract-level data for every census tract in the United States.

The employment issue is also a blow to some smaller communities as you mentioned.

[jmgg]

Originally Posted by TheGrandViking

https://northstarpolicy.org/addressi...-grocery-store

A recent report published by Wilder Research examined Minnesota’s grocery store landscape and compared it to the rest of the United States. The researchers found that Minnesota ranked as the seventh-worst state in the US in terms of low retail access to healthy food. 1.6 million Minnesotans have low retail access to healthy food, which is nearly a third of the entire state’s population. Additionally, around 230,000 Minnesotans living in rural areas are at least 10 miles away from a grocery store. 16% of the census tracts in Minnesota qualified as federally designated food deserts, meaning that those tracts have a large low-income population as well as significant distances from healthy food. These census tracts are both in rural and urban areas of Minnesota. The urban census tracts had a larger population of people impacted by food deserts, but the rural tracts had a disproportionate number of food deserts relative to population size. The populations that had the worst access to healthy foods were Greater Minnesotans, seniors, the poor, and racial minorities. Below is a map generated by the USDA, showing the areas considered food deserts in Minnesota, along with one for the Twin Cities metro area. The green areas are census tracts that have a significant portion of people living in poverty AND low vehicle accessibility. For those interested, this link leads to the data showing the census tract-level data for every census tract in the United States.

The employment issue is also a blow to some smaller communities as you mentioned.

I guess this doesn't surprise me. I've travelled so few times to the areas north of Wilmer and the Twin Cities that not being aware of the geographics involved makes sense.

I knew there were very few issues in the southwest corner up to the Twin Cities for sure. There's a town of 3000+ population at least every 20 miles that are holding their own quite well.

[CCbaxter]

Originally Posted by Glenfield

My relatives can’t fathom living 45 feet from your neighbors.

This brings up a great point, life is all about choices.
Rural=Huge traffic jams? No. Grocery store close by? No.

Urban=Expensive real estate? Yes. High speed broadband? Yes.

You choose your compromises with eyes wide open.

[Teak]

Originally Posted by lookingaround12345

It was simply meant to be humorous. I know they carry more I also get my beer there. So it is really all you need in a 10x10 mile square area.

If you are buying your beer at a convenience store, then you must be drinking only 3.2% beer, right?