Tag: grocery stores

Grocery stores have been on Julie’s mind lately. As a member of the Waseca EDA, she finds herself thinking about ways and alternatives to attract a new grocery store business to the community to help fill a need that is currently only occupied by Walmart. On this episode, she discusses one alternative – cooperatives. She’s ...

In a previous episode, we discussed the importance of rural grocery stores. Kathy Draeger, the statewide Director of the Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships at the University of Minnesota,  discussed their discussed their recently published report outlining results from a survey they sent to rural grocery stores  across Minnesota. For this episode, we brought her back ...

Kathy Draeger, the statewide Director of the University of Minnesota Extension –  Regional Sustainable Development Partnership, wants rural communities to see their local grocery stores as the assets they are. Small town grocery stores have been facing an uphill battle against increasing competition from the big national chains. In this interview, Kathy and Julie will ...

Our thanks go out to Tim Penny, president of the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation and former First District Congressman, for his opinion piece in last Sunday’s Minneapolis Star Tribune featuring our work on cost of living and how your dollar can go further in Greater Minnesota. The study itself is getting a lot of traction ...

MN Department of Ag is offering a cost-share program to help eligible farmers markets keep things safe and sanitized School sports are canceled and it doesn’t look good for professional sports, concerts or other summer fun. Even the Great Minnesota Get-Together is at risk of being cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. What’s left? Well, ...

By Marnie Werner During these days of social distancing and #StayHomeMN, just going to the grocery store can be a daunting task for many among us. But as COVID-19 spreads, communities are also concerned about how to help people who can’t or shouldn’t go out, people who may already be sick and recovering at home, ...

By Marnie Werner, Vice President, Research & Operations The beating heart of what we do here at the Center for Rural Policy and Development is our research—research pure and simple on policy issues that matter to rural Minnesota. It’s the beginning of the fiscal year for us, which means a new start to not just ...

Demographic changes in Greater Minnesota have been hard on local grocery stores. Between 2000 and 2013, Greater Minnesota lost 14% of its grocery stores. Read the fact sheet on the reasons, the implications, and some possible strategies for new models.