Things Are Looking Up For The Rosebud Indian Reservation!

[Bobbieo]

Want quality of life in a community? Get a grocery store. That’s my personal philosophy, but way smarter people have said the same thing in way smarter terms. You know a neighborhood is going downhill when the food store departs.

Well, Rosebud is on the way up. A ribbon-cutting this week marked the opening of the Turtle Creek Crossing supermarket, a SuperValu store, in Mission, S.D., the Rosebud Reservation’s largest town.

http://nativeunity.blogspot.com

[Bobbieo]

1. Isn't it amazing what a supermarket can do for a rural community!!!

Allows them to shop in their area, saves on gas and creates a social atmosphere in their home town.

[mix]

2. That's great news...

but what kind of food? Local producers hopefully??

[murielm99]

3. We've always had a grocery story in my small town.

I'm afraid that may change. The new owners of the store here are running it into the ground. I would not be surprised to see it go out of business. Then we will have to drive a long distance for anything more than milk and bread. This is not because of the economy, either. The new owners simply do not know how to run a grocery store.

[Bobbieo]

4. Muriel - Will almost bet someone else will take over the business.

[murielm99]

7. I think the reasons for this problem in my community are

partly theirs, partly ours.

For their part, the family owns several stores. We all know that times are tough. It seems that they may want to run this store into the ground so that they can sell it at a loss and get a tax write-off. The local woman who was their manager quit after she discovered that they were months behind in paying utility bills and bills to suppliers. She is a friend of mine. She told me that the money was there, but they told her not to pay for things. Also, the store keeps getting dirtier and dirtier, and there are expired items on the shelves.

The other reason is that they are Asian-American. We have too many people here who are prejudiced and resistant to diversity in the community. They will have to be here for a couple of generations before they will be accepted, and even then, it will be tough.

I know it was tough for my family, and we are lily-white. My husband and I are not "from here." Our farm home is known as The Old Doyle Place (not our name). Partly, this is a geographical designation, because no one uses street addresses here. The other part shows a mind-set that is resistant to change. If my children had decided to stay here and live in this place, it would still be the Doyle Place. Maybe if our grandchildren live here, it will be referred to by our family name.

I hope someone else takes over the store, if this family decides to leave. But I have seen similar businesses close in other small towns. Some time ago, there was a story about a high school boy in Truman, Minnesota, who reopened the local grocery store. He was struggling to get local people to come back to the business. I don't know what happened to him. I am familiar with the community, because it was the closest town to my father's family farm many years ago.

[tomreedtoon]

5. What is the first store robbed in a commmunity? A grocery store.

Which is why nobody wants to open one in a ghetto area. It is the lifeblood of a community, and both criminals and the banks want to suck the lifeblood out of that community.

[Bobbieo]

6. Tom - Guess it takes one to know one!!!!

[tomreedtoon]

8. You mean you don't watch TV News?

I know I don't, especially since I was fired from my TV engineering job. But there are always robberies of grocery stores, especially in ghetto areas. Orlando's suburb of Pine Hills has gained the name "Crime Hills" because of the many holdup/robbery stories emanating from there. My old station's TV news department depended on the citizens of Crime Hills for the many fear-inducing stories they provided.