Grocery Stores

The goal is to bring much-needed services to the historically Black community.

The grocery store chain unraveled this year as St. Louis-area locations closed and it faced a lawsuit over late taxes and unpaid rent. Its owner had envisioned the store bringing high-quality products to food deserts.

Because of the "mine subsidence" — what experts call the ground shifting because of underground coal mines — cracks could be seen in the store’s parking lot and on two nearby streets.

The $20 million will support existing grocers and encourage new stores in underserved rural and urban areas — including Venice, the small Metro East town where the bill was signed and which sits entirely in a food desert.

The food co-op aimed to provide food insecure residents with healthy products, but low business and dwindling grant money forced it to close.

Another Save A Lot store, at 2600 State St., remains open. It is not owned by the same person.

While there is a Schnucks and Aldi on the same road, Walmart’s closure in the lower-income community will limit options for residents, experts say.

Rural areas are losing grocery stores to consolidation faster than their urban counterparts — but some communities have come up with innovative solutions.

The consumer price index is widely used by Americans to determine inflation, but the Bureau of Labor Statistics only surveys counties that include a metro or micropolitan area.

As part of his $49.6 billion budget proposal, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker earmarked $20 million toward helping independent grocers open in food deserts across the state.