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A store, but a lot more

In a trend that is being repeated nationally, an Iowa town formed a cooperative, with residents buying shares in its iconic grocery store to keep it from closing.

By Associated press
Published January 16, 2007

ANITA, Iowa - The grocery stores that lined Main Street were always key to the little farm town of Anita.

Times have changed as Anita's population dwindled and larger competitors arrived, but the final market remained so important that its pending closure spurred residents to buy shares and create a grocery cooperative.

Co-ops are old hat for most Midwest farmers, but experts think only a dozen or so across the nation have been created to hang on to community groceries. It's a move some think will spread to other rural areas beset by similar problems, but they caution that such efforts carry risk.

In Anita, townspeople felt they had no choice - the loss of the 90-year-old Main Street Market would mean a virtual end to downtown traffic and trouble for the businesses that remained. And residents wondered what would become of their town without a gathering spot.

"I know quite a few people in town really just because of the store," said Don Norris, 40, who buys meat at the market.

For the Anita Grocery Cooperative, residents formed a board and sold about 300 shares at $200 apiece. The co-op board took out $150,000 in public and private loans.

Although most residents could have managed the inconvenience of a longer drive for groceries in the regional city of Atlantic, rural towns lose something when fixtures such as a grocery store close. A domino effect kicks in and other businesses begin closing, said Kimberley Zeuli, who studies rural cooperatives and is a visiting professor of economics at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va. "At some point, it's no longer a town," Zeuli said. "It's just a gas station."

Townspeople understand this shift and often try to fight it, frequently by embracing the chain competitors who put Main Street shops out of business. But many communities can't entice a Wal-Mart or Target, and in the past decade more have turned to things like co-ops, Zeuli said.

For communities that opt to begin a co-op, experts said success or failure hinges upon whether residents ante up.

Anita residents seem committed. Around town, "Invest in Anita" posters with a sample share certificate are displayed, and the names of residents who join are printed on the front page of the weekly newspaper.

Linda Firebaugh, the 55-year-old owner of the Rusty Razor salon, recently bought a share. Her business is only a couple or doors from the market.

"I've seen names in the paper that have surprised me. I'm thrilled," Firebaugh said.

[Last modified January 16, 2007, 00:59:34]