Manchester Market’s closure to leave gap in community
Photo courtesy of Kim Blumenstein.
Last Monday, patrons of the Manchester Market, Manchester’s only grocery store, were surprised find a “10% off everything, store closing” sign on the door. The Market, located at 455 W. Main Street, is closing so owners and co-managers, Jerry Dobbs and Jeff Tanner can retire. Dobbs and Tanner have rented the building in which the market is located for 24 years. Last February, they declined signing another long-term lease and the building was put up for sale by the owners, and continues to be for sale.
Village manager Jeff Wallace stated, “The community will certainly miss the Manchester Market but realize Jeff and Jerry could not go on forever and (we) wish them the best in retirement. It will cause a large change in our daily lives and leave a tremendous void in the community.”
Although there are many secondary negative effects of losing the grocery store, including as an employer, as a draw to downtown, as a location for community groups to hold fundraisers, as a frequent source of donations, and as a collection location for the the CRC’s food pantry, the largest impact will be the lack of access to healthy food. For a community with no public transportation, no access to rideshare services, and no coverage by grocery delivery services, the situation is bleak for residents without reliable transportation or even those just short on time.
With the closing of the Manchester Market, Manchester nearly becomes what the USDA refers to as a food desert. The definition of a food desert for rural areas is any rural area more than 10 miles away from a grocery store. Although just barely, all of the Manchester area is within 10 miles of either Busch’s in Clinton or Polly’s in Chelsea. But, the effect will be the same as if we were a food desert, as it will lead to increased reliance on convenience stores and shelf-safe processed food.
Ruth VanBogelen of the Manchester Wellness Coalition stated, “Some may say we have Dollar General, which does sell food, but little of what they stock is healthy food (yes to milk and eggs and maybe canned fruits and vegetables – but these are often high in salt or sugar).”
The Wellness Coalition, which funds multiple healthy eating programs in Manchester including the Community Garden and Farmers Market, is already discussing short-term solutions. VanBogelen added, “Short-term solutions might be 1) car pooling for those needing transportation to another town, 2) farmers market being open more days in the summer and early in the spring, maybe even all winter, 3) expanding the CRC food pantry, 4) assisting other businesses (Dollar General, gas stations etc.) that maybe could stock healthy food.”
Another solution the 5 Healthy Towns Foundation is talking about and providing information for is a food cooperative. A co-op is a business owned and managed by the people who use its services. VanBogelen stated, “Other food desert towns have created these co-ops.”
The Manchester Wellness Coalition is gathering ideas and considering starting discussion groups. Please email manchesterwellnesscoalition@gmail.com or farmersmarket48158@gmail.com if you have ideas or helpful suggestions and/or if you want to join a discussion meeting.
VanBogelen concluded, “I would like to thank Manchester Market for all the years they have operated the store – their hard work to keep Manchester a healthy town is admirable!”
Manchester’s most vulnerable residents will continue to have access to healthy foods and fresh produce year-round through the CRC food pantry, which operates in a format similar to a small grocery store. But, CRC Director Laura Seyfried explained, the CRC is currently limited both by space and USDA policy from acting as a grocery store. She stated that she also sees a food co-op as the best way forward.
The Village and Downtown Development Authority (DDA) are both looking at a longer-term solution. Jeff Wallace stated, “We will continue to work with the property owner and others to try to find another grocer for the community.”
The DDA similarly is looking at recruiting a grocery store. Over the past few years, it has completed two economic development surveys to determine what types and sizes of retail businesses Manchester could support based on actual Manchester spending habits. DDA vice-chair Ray Berg stated, “It’s always been an intent of the DDA to select one or two potential retail types from the Gibbs study, and see how the DDA might go about attracting such types to open in Manchester … I think the recent closure announcement of Manchester Market helps up establish a priority in finding a retail grocery replacement.”
Berg described one example Robert Gibbs used when he gave his talk on the study results, ”Grocery store corporations such as Whole Foods have different models for their stores … the Manchester area could support a ‘mini Whole Foods’ model (it would likely be on M-52 somewhere). This would be in addition to the Manchester Market, which was not considered in jeopardy of closing at that time.” He continued, “Clearly the closure of the Manchester Market provides a priority item for such a marketing approach and outreach to chains who might open a food store in Manchester.”
The DDA will be discussing data related to grocery stores at its next meeting on Wednesday, January 30 at 7 pm in the Village Hall. DDA meetings are open to the public.
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