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Can Rural Kansas Grocery Stores Survive?

By Bryan Thompson
Published August 29, 2017 at 3:32 PM CDT
Since the Dillons grocery store in St. John, Kansas, closed last year, residents have traveled 12 miles to Stafford or farther to supermarkets in Great Bend or Pratt for their groceries. Local officials are developing a plan to attract a new grocer to town. (Photo by Bryan Thompson, Kansas News Service)
Since the Dillons grocery store in St. John, Kansas, closed last year, residents have traveled 12 miles to Stafford or farther to supermarkets in Great Bend or Pratt for their groceries. Local officials are developing a plan to attract a new grocer to town. (Photo by Bryan Thompson, Kansas News Service)

More than 40 grocery stores in rural Kansas have closed over the last nine years. Shrinking towns have meant shrinking markets. Bryan Thompson, of the Kansas News Service, explains what it could take to bring grocery stores back.

 

 
Learn more about this story here.

Kansas Public Radio is a partner with the Kansas News Service, a collaboration covering health, education and politics across the state.
Local News
Bryan Thompson
Bryan Thompson has been KPR's Health Reporter since 2000. He's a lifelong Kansan, and a graduate of Wichita State University. He's been involved in radio news longer than he'd care to admit, serving as news director at stations in El Dorado, Liberal, and Salina before joining KPR. He and his wife, Cindy, are the parents of six outstanding children--one of whom now looks down on them from above. In his spare time, Bryan enjoys music and sports.
See stories by Bryan Thompson