Chicora gets store offering meat, produce
DONEGAL TWP — A Tennessee retailer with stores throughout Butler County has renovated its Chicora store to accommodate residents who have suffered without a grocery store since 2018.
Dollar General on Route 68 just south of the borough is now a DG Market, which offers fresh meat and produce in addition to its typical array of nonperishable foods, dairy, frozen goods and retail items.
Chicora has been considered a “food desert” since the lone, longtime grocery store in the borough, Friedman's Freshmarket, closed its doors.
A “food desert,” according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is an area where residents are more than 10 miles from a full-service grocery store in rural areas and one mile in large cities.
Consumers in food deserts largely rely on packaged, processed and convenience foods instead of fresh foods.
The remodeled store opened a few weeks ago, and offers an 8-foot, five-shelf meat case with selections of beef, pork, chicken and prepared main-dish meats.A refrigerated case twice that size offers vegetables, fruits, bagged salad, single-serve salads, dips and more.A self checkout also was added to the remodeled store.Several shoppers were loading the store's bright yellow bags into their trunks Monday.Pat Christie, of Donegal Township, loaded her cold items into a cooler in the back of her SUV.She said a cashier told her the store would become a DG Market when she was shopping at the location last month.“I was glad because Chicora needs it,” Christie said. “It's nice because there is really no other place to get potatoes or celery without driving to Butler.”
Since Friedman's closed, Christie has made the trip to Butler or Kittanning once or twice a week for groceries.“I think this was something Chicora needed,” she said of the DG Market.She has purchased both meat and produce from the store in recent weeks.“It was good,” Christie said. “I hope they're able to keep it in stock.”Arlene Kinney, of Chicora, also drove to Butler to get her groceries in the year she has lived in the borough.“It's not very convenient,” Kinney said.She has bought bananas, cauliflower, avocados and other produce from the new DG Market in the past few weeks.“I was ecstatic,” Kinney said of hearing fresh meat and produce would be offered at the store. “It's wonderful.”Jodie Undercuffler, of Summit Township, likes the store and has brought her aunt, who does not drive, to get her groceries a few times since the renovation.
Undercuffler also picks up what she needs during the trip.“I think it's good for this area because they don't have a grocery store close by at all,” she said.Dan Mortland, past Chicora council president and current mayor-elect, said creative accommodations in food deserts could become the norm as mom and pop stores have all but disappeared.“The small towns of Butler County have a great deal to offer in terms of lifestyle, but one of the things that is perpetually a problem is that we're food deserts,” Mortland said. “This new model Dollar General has come up with is great, in my opinion.”He joked that September is bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich season in Western Pennsylvania, as juicy, ripe tomatoes hang on the vines of many backyard gardens.“But we have to drive 30 miles round trip to get a head of lettuce,” Mortland said.He has shopped at the new DG Market and found its produce and meat to be of good quality.“That's what you're seeing in people's carts,” Mortland said.Feedback he has received from residents on the renovation at Dollar General has been more than positive.“They are absolutely delighted,” Mortland said. “It's almost like Christmas. It's going to make our lives a lot easier.”Dollar General officials said they saw the problem and went to work to fix it.“We are excited to provide Chicora residents with our new DG Market format and look forward to welcoming customers to our recently remodeled location,” said Dan Nieser, Dollar General's senior vice president of real estate and store development. “The new DG Market format aims to provide the Chicora community with an updated design and closer access to fresh foods and a convenient location to purchase the items they want and need.”
