BENSON, Ill – A new grocery store in the small Woodford County Village of Benson celebrated its grand opening Friday.
Farm Family Foods, located at 311 Front Street, is the first grocery store in the town of around 400 people since the 1990s. In a nearby town, Roanoke’s only grocery store, IGA, also closed in April 2024, leaving people in the area with no option but to travel miles for fresh food.
Co-Owner Corrie Scott told 25 News the store has been three years in the making, and said she and her team are excited to offer healthy, locally-sourced food to the community.
“We have 25 farmers that we call hyper-local, and we also have a little over 100 farmers that we’re sourcing from 400 miles from Benson,” Scott said.
“When we bought the building, I had an eighth-grade boy ride over on his bike and say, ‘What are you going to do with the old Family Foods,’ and I said I think we’re going to open a grocery store,” Scott said. “He said that’s so wonderful because there is no place we can get fresh produce in Benson.”
Scott said most people think of food deserts as a primarily urban problem, but rural food deserts are also a significant problem. She hopes the store can boost the area’s economy.
“For every $1 spent, about a $1.50 or a $1.75 actually stays in circulation in that community,“ Scott said. ”When you are shopping at a big box store outside of your community, only about 11 cents of that dollar is staying in that community.”
She also said she hopes the store will positively impact the general well-being of the community.
Farm Family Foods is open at 8 a.m., Wednesday through Saturday.
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