Pilot Grove’s first grocery store in four years to open Saturday

A new grocery store in Pilot Grove is being touted as saving the town. For the past four years, residents have traveled 30 miles for groceries.

Starting Saturday, they will be able to walk for them.

When the store opens, its owners say the shelves will only be partially filled because people have been hounding them to open as soon as possible.

Townspeople say it has been too long since they had a grocery store.

“This morning, I got a hug from one lady saying we’d never have this grocery store if it wouldn’t have been for you and your hard work,” said Pilot Grove resident Laurie Beach.

Beach is one of 24 investors to bring the $330,000 store to fruition. She says the town lost its grocery store about four years ago and it was a big hit to the town.

Since then, she was on a mission to fill that void. She found 23 other local residents to help the project come to life.

The owner of Tyler’s Market says it was not a difficult decision for him to build in the town.

“We’ve seen the excitement of the people wanting the store here and that’s what drove us to go ahead and do this store here,” said Cody Tyler. “We knew that they wanted it.”

Some residents said they have been checking on the status of the story nearly every day. They say up until about six months ago, they had a pessimistic outlook.

“The day they broke ground and started pouring concrete was a big thing because many people didn’t think it would ever happen and then finally whenever that did, it was the start of the positive,” said Beach.

Store owners say they business will also have a deli and serve breakfast.