Rural Grocery Spotlight: Selden Grocery (Selden, KS)

Selden Grocery in Selden, Kansas serves a rural community of just 288 people. Owner Michelle Peterson who took over the store in 2024 connected with us recently to answer questions and share more about her story after one of our team members was able to visit the store. Read highlights from Michelle's answers (which have been edited for length) below.

 

Can you tell me a bit about your store’s history? When did it open, and how has it evolved over the years?  What’s your role, and how long have you been here?

We bought an existing business. The family before us owned and operated it for over 100 years. We took over on November 15, 2024. My role has been owner-operator and everything in between.

Right now, I feel the store is seen as a convenience store. Over the past year, we have renovated much of the building to open it up for use as a grocery store. It will take time for the community and surrounding areas to see the changes and change their shopping patterns.

A very positive but difficult task was to make all the changes while being open. We felt that if we closed at all, it would change the sales momentum, and we knew that would be bad, so we accomplished everything in sections and stages. We were only closed one afternoon because we needed a whole new breaker box, and to change it, Midwestern Electric had to come and shut down power to the whole store, which took 4 hours.

We bought the store with some challenges, and we realize it will take time for the community and surrounding areas to see and embrace what we are trying to accomplish. It is my hope that the store will move forward and be known as a grocery store for Selden and all of Northwest Kansas.

What are some of the other improvements or upgrades to your store that you're particularly excited about? 

As we took ownership, the first thing we did was clean out everything that did not belong in the store. Then began deep cleaning the entire space and painting the walls white, to brighten it up. The store was rewired to better support the refrigerators and freezers. We were also able to upgrade all the lights and install more in the darker areas of the store.

We then began demolition, including removing the back office and several other walls. This gave us more space to organize the store with specific grocery sections, create more space for products and make it visibly appealing for customers to see through the store and see all the available products. All of the freezers and refrigerators were reset to fit the grocery layout. We were able to refurbish an old cabinet for our produce department and install a new sink, cabinet and countertops for a drink station.

So far we have been able to add new amenities to the store including a new cooler for produce, two new ice cream freezers for products, soda fountain and coffee machines. The store also gained new coolers from some of our distributors.

The renovations did not stop with the inside. We removed items that did not need to be outside the store. Then painted the store white with black trim. We like to keep the curb appeal year-round so we installed a little garden of shrubs and flowers, some planters by the door, and of course we decorate for the holidays. Then the crowning glory…we put up a new sign, there had never been one before. I am excited about all these improvements, and I can't wait to do more.

What are the biggest challenges your store faces on a day-to-day basis? 

Some of the biggest challenges the store faces every day is a lack of support. Going back to my previous answer, trying to overcome past problems and encouraging people to shop at the store now can be very difficult. Once they come in and see the changes, they are a little more willing to spend on groceries.

Then there is Walmart, people will go there first then come into Selden Grocery for what they forgot at Walmart. That needs to be the other way around. Even if people came in for fresh items like produce, bread and milk, that would be a huge win for the store. I believe when people see the quality and price on those items they will branch out and shop the rest of the aisles.

Lack of support means low sales and low cash flow. If we do not have the cash, we cannot make the repairs on the things that still need to be fixed and now replaced. We need a new roof, windows, HVAC system and a generator. Those are things the building needs. I would love to replace the floor but right now that is a want. A month ago, the store lost a four-door freezer that was purchased with the sale. It was 105 cubic feet of freezer space, that is now gone. To get back that amount of freezer space, we will need to purchase two three-door freezers that cost $11,000. I am not sure how that will happen, but it needs to happen. The best inventory we can carry is frozen. It will last, and we can put a good margin on frozen products. Also, I have noticed it is the best impulse buy. Moms who work all day and do not feel like cooking come in for that frozen meal. That is an extremely important category for a rural grocery store. That is all profit.

We have to pay the bills first, then what's left goes to the store. Sometimes there is nothing left.

What do your distribution options look like in Selden, KS?

We buy our groceries through another grocery store who orders from a grocery wholesaler. Our store is too small to meet the weekly purchasing minimums. I am planning on receiving delivery from them someday, but it will not be today. I am pricing, tagging all inventory that comes into the store so that one day we will be able to scan our orders directly to the distributor. I love the products and the off brands this distributor offers; I also love their produce. It is always beautiful.

Right now, I send my grocery orders to Jamboree Foods in Hoxie, and he sends my order with his. It is frustrating because I do not have updated catalogs with the correct pricing and the entire inventory. No matter what I order and what I think it is going to cost, it is always more. Plus, I have to go pick it up in my little minivan, sometimes taking two trips. The summer is an extra challenge because of the temperatures. I shopped for a whole year trying to find a refrigerated truck, to transport the food, but that was not in the budget.

I would like to say that this has been made doable because of the store manager at Jamboree in Hoxie. Selden Grocery would not be where it is without him.

Having the inventory delivered is so important to a small rural grocery store. It saves time, money, and it gives the store the power to believe it can make it. If the owners have to chase groceries, that chase will wear thin, and that store will fail. That store will make so much less doing that when you factor in the time and energy it takes. The previous owner of my store did that, she ran for groceries 5 or more times a week. I did that in the beginning, when I was battling with distributors to deliver to my store.

My longest battle was with Coke. Coke had never delivered to my store. They went to Oberlin, Hoxie (which I am in the middle of) and Colby. I called and emailed with the sales rep for almost a year. Then one day, I was picking up my usual supplies from Walmart when I went past the pop aisle and saw a man working with a Coke shirt on. I stopped and asked… Is your name Matt? He replied yes, it is. I said, "Well, I am Michelle Peterson from Selden Grocery." His face fell a little. I proceeded to say to him… “I need your product delivery to our store.” I remember the frustration coming on because it wasn't just Coke it was all the distributors I was fighting with to get service. I told him with tears in my eyes that “it was easy to deliver to Walmart, anyone can do that. But, our rural community grocery stores need your service. This is the challenge, help us. Deliver to my store so I do not have to run here 3 times a week. The distributors have a responsibility to the rural communities; if we don't make it, it's on you.” I could hear myself getting louder, so I apologized for that, then asked when we could have an account. He said he would be in touch. I walked away thanking him and thinking that will never happen.

That afternoon, my phone rang. It was Stephanie from the Coke office; she had been instructed to call and set up my account. I cried, and from that day on I decided not to take no for an answer. Is that always easy? No.

We now get distribution from 7-up, Pepsi, Bimbo Bakery, Frito Lay and Cash-Wa (tobacco and candy).

In your opinion, what key changes or support systems are needed – either at the local, state, or federal level – to help make rural grocery stores more sustainable and successful in the long term?

To keep rural grocery stores open, we need help at the state level. The states need to realize how difficult it is and create assistance specifically for grocery stores. Maybe trying to create programs with the big food distributors to make it easier and even possible to receive groceries by delivery. Do something about the membership fees and minimums. Maybe even create a program where distributors provide freezers and coolers to store the product the grocery store is buying from them. Again, it is really easy to deliver to a large store with all the buying power, so it gets all the sales. What about us? What about the rural community grocery stores? If we had the sales, we wouldn't need any help from the state or anyone else. We need the food to get the sales. We need buying power so the local community shops with us and not Walmart. Maybe a food stamp program that says you can only use them at the local grocery store. Stamps by zip code. We definitely need help with advertising, reaching everyone without the internet. We need a sign for the highway, I have not mentioned that yet. $8,000 was the estimate. If we had a sign on the highway I'm certain we would get that traffic.

The more we stand on our own financially, the longer we will last. It would be building a business to pass on.

Is there anything else you would like to share about your store or the community you serve? 

I do love what I am doing. I see so much more for the store. I would love to put in public bathrooms, a kitchen where we can create a lot of fresh items to go. Also, in that kitchen, we could serve dinner a couple of nights a week in the store's backyard. I would love to create a seating area where families could come visit, eat, let their kids play in the park right behind the store, play cornhole, something beautiful.

Some of these things will never happen if all we do is struggle.

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