The Rural Grocery Store Learning Cohort is doubling in size as it expands after a pilot year. The program, which is a collaborative effort between the Center for Rural Affairs, University of Nebraska Cooperative Development Center and UNL Rural Prosperity Nebraska, aims to educate, connect and provide financial support to rural grocers.
The six-month program is open to rural grocery store owners, managers and board members. It offers online skill development, networking opportunities and financial support. Participants that complete 50% of the educational sessions are eligible for a grant of $10,000 or more to invest in sustaining their grocery store.
The University of Nebraska Cooperative Development Center created the program curriculum. It consists of eight to nine sessions hosted via Zoom covering financial management, profitability strategies, maximizing management, marketing, community engagement and more topics.
After the legislature in 2024 failed to pass a bill that would have offered grants to rural grocery stores, the three founding organizations set out to answer to this question: “How can we creatively address those challenges to ensure that our citizens in Nebraska have access to the foods that they need to be able to stay in these spaces?”
Deborah Solie, the Center for Rural Affairs senior project associate, was set on answering that question. Solie told the Nebraska FARMcast the organization wanted to create a network for rural grocers to learn, communicate and see that they’re not alone in their challenges.
Pilot year success
Brian Horack, manager at Post 60 in Emerson, participated in the program’s pilot year. He found that the most valuable takeaway was the connections. The program helped him connect with other professionals in his field.
“It was nice to see that the challenges I was dealing with was not unique to us. It was kind of everybody was dealing with it. So then you started listening to different ideas of how they're navigating the challenges,” Horack said.
Participants received almost $17,500 each in grant funding. Each business used the funds to help keep the store operating and to add much-needed upgrades.
Horack used part of his funding to purchase clear door beverage coolers. Previously, he used stainless steel door coolers that made it difficult for customers to view available stock. As a result, alcohol sales have increased and are better than previous years. He said he hopes that by the end of the year, the store will be able to make back the grant money in sales alone.
Horack said that while the pilot program has been successful, he still encourages people to go to their local grocery stores as much as possible. He warned that losing a grocery store can be a fatal blow for struggling rural communities.
Rural grocery stores are crucial, but at risk
A research study published in 2024 by Nebraska Cooperative Development Center found that 19 counties in Nebraska have a greater risk of their grocery stores closing. This is due to spending potential slowly growing at 1.66% a year.
Charlotte Narge, Nebraska Cooperative Development Center director, told the Nebraska FARMcast said many small towns' return on base investment is one cent per dollar invested. That means rural grocery stores are just breaking even or have very thin profit margins.
This isn’t the only challenge rural grocery stores face, however.
“We're also seeing challenges with market size and population sizes, competition from larger retailers, dollar stores, and we really want to see access to healthy foods and access to food in rural communities continue," Solie said.
Ansley Fellers, Nebraska Grocery Industry Association executive director, described the economic hardships of rural grocery store owners. With minimum wage, utility costs and insurance premiums all on the rise, stores are struggling to stay competitive.
Fellers explained that this isn’t just an economic impact but a community one. If rural grocery stores shut down, low income and elderly residents will struggle the most to get access to fresh food. Many could lose access to the closest SNAP- and WIC-eligible grocery stores.
“If you lose a grocery store, and you lose some of that really fundamental access, it's going to be really difficult for those communities to survive,” Fellers said.
The Howard G. Buffet foundation is privately funding the program, and it is set to run until 2029. The deadline to join the 2026 cohort is Friday.