How new Illinois grants will help local grocery stores

QUINCY (WGEM) – New grants from Illinois are intended to support local grocery stores by providing money for energy-efficient equipment.

For a store like K’s Family Foods, in Camp Point, Illinois, it can make a huge difference as it’s the only grocery store offering fresh produce and meats in the area, people would have to travel to either Quincy or Mt. Sterling otherwise, according to owner Kelly Lash.

She said the original store closed in the spring of 2020, and she and her husband purchased the building in the fall of that year. She said they knew how important the grocery store was to the community.

She said the grants offered would help them upgrade their refrigeration equipment.

“Things are now are more efficient. So we would definitely be interested in looking at ways to improve our coolers and freezers so that they would become more efficient and that would also help obviously with electric costs,” Lash said.

She said while they’ve made some improvements, refrigeration coolers are very expensive.

Most of their current refrigeration equipment is over 30 years old. She said it’s difficult for small stores to keep up with bigger stores and absorb costs for things like electricity. But she said the support of the community has helped and they informed them of the grants.

Jason Wilkey, the butcher and a customer for K’s Family Foods said the community was relieved when the store re-opened under new owners. He said the community was glad to see the store operational again, as they had to drive a half hour away to get supplies.

“That’s a lot of cost of having to travel to get your supplies all the time. So you know it was a big shocker and was sad to hear that it was possible we wouldn’t have a local store,” Wilkey said.

He said as a business owner himself, he buys meats and other supplies from them and enjoys not having to travel 30 minutes to another store.

He said the community’s been very supportive of the business and they are glad to have it up and running.

He said it’s important for people to support their local businesses like these because when they are gone, they’ll know it and they’ll feel it.

The deadline to apply for grants is March 4.

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