Pandemic helped Iowa community appreciate value of grocery store enough to save it

The Des Moines Register reports from Jewell, Iowa, population 1,215, in Hamilton County, in the central part of the state.  Folks in Jewell raised 235,000 to rehab and restock the store, whose predecessor, the Heartland Market, had closed in January.  Interestingly, it was the pandemic that jumpstarted efforts to re-open the store.

after the coronavirus had shut down restaurants ... volunteers began offering take-home dinners as a fundraiser most Sundays. Volunteers made pork loin sandwiches, brats, hamburgers and sausages. 

"With the grab-and-goes, donations started pouring in," said Mischelle Hardy, treasurer of the Jewell Market board, created to raise money to reopen the store.

"One Sunday, we raised $30,000," said Hardy, who owns Sew Bee It quilt shop in Jewell.
The Jewell Main Street Community's grant to match up to $20,000 in donations helped the effort. So, too, did the public health emergency. 

Hardy said the value of the local store really hit home during the outbreak. Residents were reluctant to "go to the bigger towns to get groceries," given concerns about the virus' spread, she said. And they "started coming out of the woodwork" to support the local store. 

Families began dumping $50s and $100s in the donation bucket every time they picked up a meal, Hardy said. And the Jewell Market also sold about 300 ownership shares in the store at $400 a pop.

You'll find other posts about rural grocery stores on this blog here, here, here, here, here, and here.  And here's one from when the blog was so new (2007) that I hadn't yet learned to embed links!  Searching "grocery store" will bring you to lots of other posts mentioning grocery stores in rural America, including in the era of the pandemic.