Reply to Pilot Grove Grocery Store

Pilot Grove has a new grocery store. Details from KansasCity Star.

Posted on Wed, Dec. 25, 2013
In a town of 800, a small grocery store is a big deal
By DONALD BRADLEY
The Kansas City Star

Loretta Kempf wasn’t messing around the day her town got its grocery store back.

She had her mind set on being the first customer and rejected a friend’s offer of a ride there.

“You’ll be late,” she told the woman.

Kempf, 91, walked. She got there first and bought an angel food cake mix.

She and others like her are a good part of why this town built a grocery store. Literally, the town. A bunch of farmers, the mayor, a doctor, an electrician, business owners, the high school FFA, regular folks and some retirees — 23 in all — pooled money and came up with $320,000 for the new store. It had its grand opening Dec. 7.

The old store closed about four years ago, and the nearest place for groceries had been in Boonville, 12 miles away. Not all that far, but Pilot Grove has a lot of senior citizens among its 800 residents.

And as Kempf put it, “When it snows and school’s out, the (transportation service) bus doesn’t run.”

In a metal building only 60 feet by 72, the new store won’t be confused with a Hy-Vee or Price Chopper. It doesn’t have a full deli, but you can get a ham sandwich; no fancy java bar, but there is a coffee pot and a place to visit.

Communities lose a lot when they lose the grocery store — convenience, identity, pride. The idea to pass a hat to build a new one says a lot about this little town in Cooper County, and probably something about rural grit.

“When you want or need something bad enough, sometimes you have to do it yourself,” said Joe Stoecklein, one of the farmers who pitched in.

Going way back, Elwood Gerke ran a grocery store in Pilot Grove.

But he got old and sick and finally had to sell the place. For