Local food store closed, less choices for organic and vegetarian items

Local food store closed

I was sad to learn yesterday that a local food center where I get much of my organic foods and vegetarian items is closing. The food center has been in business for 17 years. For most of those years it’s only competition was a HY-VEE store. Wal-Mart came to the area in 2006. Wal-Mart is located about a half mile from the food center.

I took the photos for this article with my iPod. It felt strange to see so many empty shelves. Prices on just about everything were reduced. I seen an employee hauling two loaded carts of food to the back room. The store will be remodeled into a hardware store. I mentioned the food center in a previous article and stated Wal-Mart was a joke when it came to food and produce choices. The food center was my first shopping choice if I was in this town. Many of the vegetarian items are not available anywhere else in this town.

I will have to travel the opposite way to a larger city that has the food and produce choices I want. I liked being able to buy what I wanted regardless of which city I went to. Now I’ll be pretty limited and visit the bigger city more often. In an article in the local paper the owners said they held out pretty well when Wal-Mart came to town but the economic downturn a few years back really did them in. It’s sad to see a locally owned business go out of business. I’m glad that I shopped there and send gratitude to the owners for the difference they made. Best of luck to the owners and I’ll keep watch for more local food stores.