CASSELTON, N.D. (KFGO) – Tuesday, Christmas Eve, the doors were supposed to close for good at Casselton’s only grocery store. But owner Fred Wangler has decided to keep the store open.
He has hired a new manager. For the time being, the store is still for sale but he says, “hopefully it will at least be break-even so I don’t lose money on the proposition.”
Like many other full-service rural grocery stores, the Casselton location has had a struggle to compete with larger stores in urban area’s and that’s led to many store closings. Wangler once had six stores in rural North Dakota. He now has three. The stores in Tolna and McVille are thriving. He hopes Casselton will do the same but it will need community support.
Casselton City Council Member Charlie Francis says the decision that the store will stay open is great news. A grocery store is “a huge thing for any community to lose,” said Francis.
State lawmakers are studying ways to keep rural grocery stores open. A recent study found that since 2014, 30 full-service grocery stores closed or are no longer full-service out of 137 in North Dakota towns with fewer than 2,100 people.
