SCARVILLE, Iowa (AP) -- It took a community effort to get this north central Iowa town's community store back.
A sign on the door Saturday at the Scarville Store Corp. said it all: ``Yes, we're open.''
``It's a big deal for the whole town,'' customer Emily Faugstad said. ``It shows that little towns don't want to die and that the community is fighting.''
The general store has served as a gas station, grocery, crafts shop and cafe since 1899 in Scarville, a community of 90 near the Minnesota border in Winnebago County.
But at the end of April, owner Karen Throne said the store was no longer profitable and she planned to close. The business had been for sale two years earlier, but no one made an offer.
The store shut down three months ago.
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But Scarville residents did not want to let go of the business many considered the heart of the community. Mayor Teresa Feldman, Throne's daughter, helped lead the effort to save it.
Residents pooled more than $23,000 in shares and loans so the store could reopen as a cooperative.
``It will help the community survive because it's a place to see everybody,'' shopper Jayne Brudvid said. ``It was really missed. You get used to stopping and it wasn't here. This is where we come after church on Sunday mornings.''
Feldman is the store's new general manager.
``They were coming in the door at 6:55 a.m.,'' Feldman said. ``Everybody had a smile on their face. They don't have to drive so far now for their gas and groceries.
``It's strange to see the shopping carts going round here again,'' she said. ``It's been a long time.''
Feldman said prices have been lowered by switching from a wholesale supplier to buying direct from another store.
But continued customer support is vital for the store to remain open, Feldman said. The store now stocks a greater variety of produce to persuade people to do more of their shopping locally.
Feldman said she's gotten calls from other communities wanting advice about their own troubled stores. She said she tells them to hold a community meeting to see if people are serious about saving a store.