Caledonia Argus

Root River Market topic of inquiry for Iowa State students

Posted: 8/12/03

by Andrew Miller
Argus News Reporter

The city of Houstonís fight to have a local grocery store has caught the attention of academia.

Graduate students from Iowa State University (ISU), Ames, IA, visited the Root River Market Cooperative in Houston on August 6 as part of a two-week tour of Iowa and Minnesota. The aim was for students to gain firsthand knowledge of Midwestern food and agricultural systems, and the tour included stops at farmers, seed producers, retailers and distributors.

ìWe stopped at Root River Market because it offered a chance to see how a rural community has come together to face one of the many problems facing rural communitiesñ the flight of businesses out of the community,î said Amy Hasan, an ISU grad student.

ìRoot River showed an innovative and creative approach to combatting this problem, to the point that other rural towns are sending delegates to learn how the people of Houston managed this task.î

The decision to open the market, explained Cooperative board member Doris Henderson, came in 1998 after Redís IGA, the cityís only grocery store at the time, left Houston. The community entertained the idea of recruiting another grocery store owner to come in and set up shop, but were unable to find anyone. Residents felt strongly that Houston, being a community with a large elderly population, needed a grocery store of some kind, and the idea for a co-op seemed like a logical course of action.

ìIt came about out of necessity,î Henderson said. ìItís definitely not a Cub Foods. Itís kind of a unique venture, and weíre really proud of Root River Market.î

After the decision was made to open the market, it was a busy few years for the board of directors until the store opened in November 2000. A business plan was developed, loans were procured, and food suppliers were contacted. Memberships to the Co-op became available in July 1999, and in August 2000, store manager Tony Denstad was hired.

Denstad, a 28-year veteran of the grocery business, said he became interested in the venture when he learned that, even before the market had opened its doors, several hundred memberships had been purchased by Houston residents, an indication that the store was something the community would stand behind.

ìWhen they told me they had 300 members, that means they have 300 people that put their money where their mouth is,î Denstad said.

As manager of the store, Denstad saw that the role co-op members played was unique.

ìBeing involved here, you have to realize that the people coming into the store are your bosses,î Denstad noted. ìThey have an investment in it, no matter how big it is. Everybody involved is important.î

One ISU student inquired as to whether community support for the market has grown since it opened. Denstad said that about half the community now holds memberships, and that the majority of elderly citizens in the Houston area come in on a regular basis. One demographic thatís missing, though, is young families, because itís easy for them to drive to Winona and La Crosse for groceries. Competition will get tougher, he added, when new WalMart stores open in Winona and La Crosse.

Another student wondered if the board of directors ever considered running the Co-op as a store that specialized in health and whole foods. Henderson noted that while the store carries a variety of organic and health foods, the community needed a full service grocery store, and a whole foods store probably wouldnít have survived in Houston.

Has Root River Market been profitable?, asked one student. Thus far, Denstad responded, the store hasnít turned a profit, ìbut realistically, the first five (years) will be toughest, and we should show a profit this year.î

The group of students indicated how impressed they were with how a small group of people took a problem, developed a plan, and resolved that problem. What was absolutely essential, they learned, was the communityís support of the store, since it was, after all, the communityís store.

ìIn todayís world, it seems hard to get people to support an idea,î said Hasan, the ISU groupís leader. ìIts refreshing to see a community building its infrastructure and investing in itself as we saw in Houston. It was truly inspirational.î

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