Back to Hometown for Buhler grocery

BUHLER - Mark Thompson was running late Monday morning, so by the time he reached Hometown Food Stores the freshly baked donuts were sold out.

The Buhler High School crowd had been in earlier and bought the entire day's supply.

“It’s my fault; it’s on me,” said Thompson, as he paid for two prepackaged individual pies. Thompson, who lives in Hutchinson, depends on the small grocery store for items when he’s in Buhler for work.

The mood inside the store was upbeat. That’s because a threat to the store's survival has been lifted.

Buhler City Council members unanimously voted last month to reject the planning commission’s rezoning proposal for a Dollar General to be built in their community.

Before the decision, the pros and cons of allowing Dollar General and its growing chain of variety stores had been debated among the town's 1,350 residents.

For J.C. Keith, who has owned the store for 23 years, the decision by the city council was humbling to hear.

While the public spoke in support of the business, Keith also appreciated those who had negative comments.

“There has been some very good criticism,” Keith said. This forced Keith and his daughter Sarah Orem, the store's manager, to diligently examine the criticism and try to make some improvements.

“We feel good moving forward,” Keith said.

While Keith received a few pats on the back and some suggestions, one word he heard describe him was “complacency.”

“I had to think long and hard,” Keith said. “It’s human nature to get comfortable, and I am taking this to heart.”

Keith had been a terminal supervisor at Farmland Industries, McPherson, in 1995 when he and his wife decided to purchase the Main Street grocery store.

“They decided they liked Buhler and wanted to do something that would give my sisters and me an opportunity to learn how to work,” Orem said.

All three daughters grew up working in the store, but Sarah was the one who decided to go into the family business.

Despite being stressful, the Dollar General scare has left them more positive about their future.

“It has been a shot in the arm; it has energized us to keep moving forward,” Keith said.

Long before Dollar General was looking for property to zone in Buhler, the Keiths had been planning on building a bigger store on property they purchased catty-corner from the town’s cemetery. There is an empty house on the property which they plan to move.

“In my mind, it will be 5,000 square feet which will double the square footage,” Keith said. A survey completed by residents as the community debated the Dollar General topic, requested more takeout food at the grocery store.

The store also specializes in Kansas products from coffee to popcorn. They offer a full-service deli, and every noon there is a soup and salad bar, plus Hunt Brothers Pizza to take out.

They are taking to heart all the suggestions. One woman said the store needed a display of flip-flops in the summer. Keith is game, but he has to find out if one of his suppliers offer flip-flops.

They want to hear from people on facebook what merchandise and services they want the store to provide.

“It was a difficult process for the community, and I know people on both sides of the issue,” Keith said.

The little Affiliated grocery store has a meat market, known for its German sausage. They inherited the recipe from the previous owner.

“Every little town has their sausage they think is so good,” Orem said. “But ours is the best. We ship all over the U.S.”

Just this past weekend, a family visiting a relative in Sunshine Meadows purchased 40 rings, which is 80 pounds of sausage, to take home to California.

Meanwhile, on the other end of the Buhler-Haven Road, Doug Nech, owner of the now-defunct Haven Foodliner, shuttered its door on Friday. They have owned the business since 2012. They were doing well until a Dollar General opened in town in 2015 -- that’s when sales started to drop 30 to 35 percent per day, he said.

Now the town is without a grocery store. The food is gone from the shelves, and the building is being sold complete with the refrigerated storage, by Alan Howard, with Results Realty and listed for $85,000.

On the last day of business, a film crew from HBO / Vice working on a documentary about what Dollar General is doing to rural America was on hand to film the last hours of the store.

“Dollar General is a cancer on small-town America,” Nech said.

His business did not survive it.