Presentation Title
Retail Food Access in Rural Kansas: Two Models for Two Small Towns
Keywords
Food access, Low-income, Competition with “big box” chains, Food policy, Financing
Description
Allen County, Kansas is defined by low incomes, the legacy of extractive industries, and poor health. Iola, the county seat, is home to roughly half the county’s residents (5,704 people) and several large factories. The basis for the town is low-wage line work, and the town is, in large part, working poor.
In 2009, after the opening of a Wal-Mart Supercenter on the edge of town, the only standalone grocery store in town closed. Citizen organizing combined with an intensive recruitment effort, and five years and nine separate grocery chains later, G&W Foods agreed to build new, next to market-rate apartments and in the midst of the densest neighborhood in town. The close collaboration of Iola, Allen County, Iola Industries, Thrive Allen County, and G&W was key in creating a mixed-use, infill development in a small town, and doors opened on January 5, 2018.
Moran, Kansas, population 522, is a small town that anchors the eastern end of Allen County. It is the hub of activity for farmers, ranchers and oilfield workers in the area, roughly 2,000 people. Stub’s Market, a small, but full-service, market, has been for sale for five years. In 2017, the community group Moran PRIDE-Thrive and Thrive Allen County started organizing a consumer cooperative, and The Marmaton Market started taking household memberships on July 14, 2017 at “God, Country and Groceries.” As of January 31, 2018, the Market has 103 owner-members in a town of 220 households, and the membership has voted unanimously to move forward with the purchase, renovation and re-opening of Stub’s Market as a co-op.
Attendees come away with a deeper understanding of the politics, finance and other dynamics involved in both models, recruiting a chain to build new and organizing a community to form a cooperative.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Retail Food Access in Rural Kansas: Two Models for Two Small Towns
Allen County, Kansas is defined by low incomes, the legacy of extractive industries, and poor health. Iola, the county seat, is home to roughly half the county’s residents (5,704 people) and several large factories. The basis for the town is low-wage line work, and the town is, in large part, working poor.
In 2009, after the opening of a Wal-Mart Supercenter on the edge of town, the only standalone grocery store in town closed. Citizen organizing combined with an intensive recruitment effort, and five years and nine separate grocery chains later, G&W Foods agreed to build new, next to market-rate apartments and in the midst of the densest neighborhood in town. The close collaboration of Iola, Allen County, Iola Industries, Thrive Allen County, and G&W was key in creating a mixed-use, infill development in a small town, and doors opened on January 5, 2018.
Moran, Kansas, population 522, is a small town that anchors the eastern end of Allen County. It is the hub of activity for farmers, ranchers and oilfield workers in the area, roughly 2,000 people. Stub’s Market, a small, but full-service, market, has been for sale for five years. In 2017, the community group Moran PRIDE-Thrive and Thrive Allen County started organizing a consumer cooperative, and The Marmaton Market started taking household memberships on July 14, 2017 at “God, Country and Groceries.” As of January 31, 2018, the Market has 103 owner-members in a town of 220 households, and the membership has voted unanimously to move forward with the purchase, renovation and re-opening of Stub’s Market as a co-op.
Attendees come away with a deeper understanding of the politics, finance and other dynamics involved in both models, recruiting a chain to build new and organizing a community to form a cooperative.
