MORAN — Early Friday evening a brief reconnaissance of Stub’s Market, a block west of the main drag, revealed a store well-equipped to handle everyday grocery needs of Moran residents.
Row after row of non-perishables were at hand, paper goods and other amenities to daily fare were plentiful and the dairy and meat cases offered variety. Store-packaged meat had the freshness shoppers hanker after.
A few blocks away, more than 100 folks, the lion’s share Moran residents, were gathering for an old-fashioned public event. The focus was to encourage support to keep the store open, topped off by entertainment and an ice cream social.
For several years Dave and Shirlene Mahurin have had the store for sale. The Mahurins want a less strenuous life, having time to do what couples do after having spent a good portion of their lives meeting daily schedules.
Mahurin is 68, and rising early in the day to do a favorite chore — he’s a cattleman at heart — is different from being on time to open a store to make certain customers are well-served. They also have one in Erie, near where they live. The Mahurins have six grandchildren, “and it’s time to stay closer to home and play with the grandkids,” Mahurin told the Register in early May.
A local group fortified by Thrive Allen County, and with Yvonne Scott, a VISTA healthy food access organizer leading the charge, has ramped up efforts to have the store become a truly community asset.
The goal is a member-owned business.
Friday evening, between moving with the music or gulping down ice cream and homemade cookies, about 30 people put money on the line. They contributed $100 each to become members of the fledgling cooperative.
LARRY MANES, a Moran stalwart by marriage to longtime resident Nelda Cuppy, has become the mouthpiece for much of what transpires in the community.
During a break from entertainment, Manes laid out the plan, and few would be better qualified, he being a retired economics instructor at Allen Community College.
“The store is something we all need,” Manes declared, pointing out that whenever they need a gallon of milk or something to top off a batch of cookies, trotting to Stub’s Market is much more convenient than “driving 45 minutes (to and from Walmart in Iola) and waiting in the checkout line 10 minutes.”
Having a grocery essentially next to door is more than a convenience, he added. Most of those living in elderly housing nearby can walk to the store “and probably half of them don’t have cars.”
The Moran store is an advantage for rural residents, as well as those living in towns close by, including Bronson.
“That’s how we came up with the idea for a coalition of people to buy the store,” he added.
St. Paul residents faced a similar dilemma, theirs of no grocery store, and solved it with a public vote to borrow $400,000 from Heartland Electric, under a program the company funds to help small communities.
The St. Paul project has worked out famously, a delegation from Moran discovered during a fact-finding trip. The store has prospered and is perhaps the second largest bottle of glue, next to its schools, that keeps St. Paul intact.
The two towns are similar in size. St. Paul’s population is 610, Moran’s 530.
“The big thing we have to do is buy the store,” Manes understated.
The $3,000, give or take, collected from residents Friday evening is important for the preferred outcome, and also is a strong indicator that residents are eager to keep the store open to meet their needs.
“It’s not easy, but it can be done,” Manes said.
LOCAL SUBSCRIPTIONS, provided a financial angel doesn’t materialize, will be helpful, but money in more substantial portions is required.
Already, Scott and Thrive have attracted a $15,000 grant from the Sunflower Foundation, and more can be expected as the project unfolds with layers of support that indicate success, said David Toland, Thrive executive director. A U.S. Department of Agriculture grant will be sought, with a strong chance of it being awarded as fiscal pieces begin to fall into place.
Manes said the Mahurins had had the store on the market in a serious vein for about five years without much of a nibble.
At last count the selling price “was $148,000,” Manes said, and with a motivated seller “I think we can get it for less, maybe substantially less.”
The store opened in the 1970s and the Mahurins have operated it more than 20 years.
Whether it’s open another year, five or 20 will depend on how well the community comes together. Friday evening’s event was a rousing starting point.
