Study: rural areas more likely to have independent grocery stores; county-level map shows more detail - Entrepreneur Generations

Number of independent grocery stores per capita in 2015
(USDA chart; click on the image to enlarge it.)

A new report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service found that rural areas are more likely to have independent grocery stores than urban areas--and that those rural independent grocers were harder hit by the Great Recession than their urban counterparts.

"Independent Grocery Stores in the Changing Landscape of the U.S. Food Retail Industry" studied the performance of independent grocers from 2005-2015. Independent grocers are defined as those that own and operate four or fewer food retail establishments, and they tend to be smaller in size and sales volume than corporate-owned or chain supermarkets, Bryce Oates reports for The Daily Yonder.

Some findings from the study:

• Rural independent grocers are most prominent in Western, New England, and Great Plains states.
• In 2015, independent grocers and their employees generated about $14 billion in state and local taxes and $13 billion in federal taxes.
• Independent grocers all together employ the equivalent of 330,000 full-time workers.
• In rural counties that are not adjacent to a metropolitan county, independent grocers tend outnumber chain stores, but independent grocer sales only account for 18 percent of all food retail sales in these counties.
• Independent grocer sales make up 16 percent of total food retail sales in rural counties adjacent to metropolitan counties, and only 10 percent in metropolitan counties.
• The counties with the most independent grocers per capita tend to be poorer and have more African-American, Hispanic and Latino populations. 
• Grocers with a higher percentage of sales from USDA's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program redemptions are more likely to be independent, especially in rural areas.
• The Great Recession hurt rural independent grocers more than metropolitan ones, especially in the rural West. Rural independent grocers in Great Plains states were hurt the least.

from The Rural Blog http://ift.tt/2Hudtei Study: rural areas more likely to have independent grocery stores; county-level map shows more detail - Entrepreneur Generations

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