BISMARCK, N.D. (KFGO) – John “Jiggs” Dyste says while there are 24 heads of lettuce in a case of iceberg lettuce, a typical small town grocery store knows they probably only need six each time they order inventory. But prices mount significantly if stores aren’t able to purchase a full case, and doing that would likely mean throwing out a lot of food.
It’s a challenge Dyste knows well – he was a fourth generation grocer in the southeast North Dakota town of Forman (population 509). He also owned stores in three other small towns before becoming the president of the North Dakota Grocers Association. He says it’s a constant struggle for rural grocery stores that want to offer their customers fresh fruits and vegetables and other perishables at fair prices, and that’s a big reason why so many have had to close.
But a pilot program in Walsh County may have cracked the code for how those small town groceries can not only survive but thrive, and on Thursday Dyste will testify in front of the Senate Agriculture and Veteran’s Affairs Committee at the North Dakota Legislature, and recommend a do-pass on a bill that would replicate the program for a larger swath of the state.
Senate Bill 2273 would provide an appropriation of $2 million to the state Department of Commerce to establish a rural grocery store sustainability and food access expansion pilot grant program like the one that has been working as a partnership between the grocery stores in Park River, Edinburg, and Hoople, as well as the small community of Fordville which does not have a grocery store.
The program allows stores to cooperate in regional hubs to buy at large quantity prices but get only they amounts they need by purchasing cooperatively and coordinating deliveries. Dyste described it as a hub-and-spoke distribution model.
The North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives is also supporting the bill. Lori Capouch is the director of rural development for the RECs.
“By buying together over several different stores, they can still attract a supplier and get a lower wholesale price and then share those cases among them. So the food stays fresh and they can sell it before it spoils,” she said.
Capouch said the state lost 20% of its small-town grocery stores in a five year span before the pandemic, and the challenges to keep them open have only mounted. But, she said, the stores that have been participating in the Walsh County pilot program have bucked a downward trend in the rest of the state.
“Those stores have had an increase in sales volume of 20-23% over the last year, which goes against the current trend of the decline,” she said.
The initial pilot program was the result of a grant from the Bush Foundation, Blue Cross Blue Shield’s Caring Foundation, and an anonymous donor. Capouch said businesses in the towns also donated to keep it going.
SB 2273 has four Republican and two Dem-NPL legislative sponsors, including two former grocers.
Comments