Cara Cain, manager for the rural grocery store Grand Avenue Market in Plains, helps a customer check out. The store is set to close by the end of the month. Calen Moore/Kansas News Service
A variety of fruits that that will be harder to come by after the market shuts down. Calen Moore/Kansas News Service
A sign telling customers what items are on sale as the store closes. Calen Moore/Kansas News Service
Casey Venters and his son measure wood used in the windows of the store being built in Dighton, Kansas. Calen Moore/Kansas News Service
Lane County hopes to have a grocery store up and running by the summer. Calen Moore/Kansas News Service
Rural communities have been turning to nonprofits and other strategies to keep grocery stores open. But one of those new stores is closing in Kansas, which shows how challenging it can be to provide food in small towns. PLAINS, Kansas — It’s hard for Cara Cain to decide what she will miss most.
She’s the manager at Grand Avenue Market, a local nonprofit grocery store opened in 2021 that is set to c…
