Five years ago, a community in rural Iowa came together to save a vital part of their small town: the grocery store.

With a population of approximately 900 people, Gowrie is in many ways an idyllic small town. It boasts a community pool, skating rink, golf course, and park. However, the vibrancy of the town was threatened when the only grocery store, Jamboree, started to struggle. Its closure was imminent.

The loss of a local grocery store can devastate a small town. Residents unable to travel frequently, including the elderly, disabled, and those with limited incomes or without reliable transportation, are hit the hardest. When locals are forced to travel farther for essentials, they end up spending their money elsewhere instead of investing it back into their community. Furthermore, decreased access to healthy food options can negatively affect overall community health.

For Gowrie, the Jamboree grocery store going out of business posed a significant risk to the well-being of the town. The weight of the threat prompted community members to take action.

Locals organized a committee to determine how to prevent the store’s closure and rally the town. They raised the funds needed to purchase the store in just 10 days.

A permanent group was selected to move the venture forward, forming an LLC and selling shares to community members. This eclectic group includes a farmer, a carpenter, a banker, a barber, an insurance owner, a hospital worker, and a veterinarian, who is also the mayor. The LLC board of directors clearly stated that investors may never see a return on their money, as this was not a money-making opportunity but rather an investment in Gowrie.

“It’s hard to say what would have happened to our community, but I hate to think what the result would have been if [our store] had shut down,” said Kathy Carlson, a board member. “It can be so easy to take having a local grocery store for granted.”

Jamboree closed its doors in March 2020 and reopened under its new ownership as Market on Market on April 25, 2020. While the lapse was short, the grocery store opened to a different world as the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded. It was a difficult time for the store and its board members. No one had expected the process to be easy, but navigating pandemic restrictions and shutdowns presented unique challenges. Nonetheless, the store has remained open and continues to serve the community.

Now, Market on Market faces typical small rural business difficulties, like maintaining long-term staff and coping with surprise expenses. Its building is nearly a century old, and with that comes significant maintenance expenses. Through the aid of grants and community support, the committee has replaced the roof, furnace, and point-of-sale system. However, unexpected costs still occur. This year, the freezer needed repair, which required a dip into the community fund.

The challenges Gowrie’s store has encountered are common for the rural groceries around the state that serve as vital social hubs and points of food access for their local communities. To support vibrant small towns and the grocery stores essential to them, the Center for Rural Affairs continues to advocate for legislation at the Iowa Statehouse to provide grants for grocery stores in rural communities. Legislation such as House File 550 supports businesses like Market on Market, enabling them to make improvements and address the needs of their communities.

Kathy and the Gowrie Grocery, LLC board have compiled a long list of future project ideas to update their grocery store and better serve their community. They would like to build a permanent ramp entrance and fix up the east portion of the building, which is largely unused, including replacing the ceiling and flooring.

“The needs are always changing and we’re trying to meet those,” Kathy said. “The store has been making more lunches, and the board sees this as an area where we could grow. We would love to put in a deli or bring in an incubator business to the east part of the building, too.”

Five years after converting to its community-supported operating model, the store continues to add to the liveliness of Gowrie. With increased enthusiasm, the community has further invested in itself through the creation of new walking and bike trails and the expansion of events like Hometown Christmas and the annual Fourth of July celebration and fireworks show. The rural town’s strength lies with its citizens who seek to preserve and improve it.

“While the board has many ambitions for Market on Market, our ultimate goal is to stay open and meet the needs of the community,” Kathy said. “The reason so many of us joined the board in the first place was to serve our community, and we look forward to doing more of that in the future.”

Kelsey Willardson grew up in Iowa and is now a policy associate with the Center for Rural Affairs.