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Manson grocery store effort deserves support

T-shirt sale is part of the campaign to raise the needed money

Manson Mayor Dave Anderson just might be the only Iowa mayor whose image adorns a t-shirt.

Those shirts are not the result of some kind of ego trip by Mayor Anderson, however. He told The Messenger that he was humbled and honored that anyone would buy something with him on it.

In fact, the shirts are part of an effort to raise at least $200,000 so that the community’s grocery store can be reopened.

The store closed in November, and since then Manson residents have had to go out of town to do any significant grocery shopping.

About $185,000 has been raised. The shirts being sold by State of the Art, a sign shop in Manson, are part of the effort to bring in enough money to reach the $200,000 goal and maybe exceed it.

That money will be used to buy the store building and fix it up. The list of things that have to be done include roof repairs and installing a new point-of-sale system. The floors need to be stripped and refinished, shelves must be rearranged and the whole place could use a coat of fresh paint.

The goal is to have the store open early next year.

Starting up a grocery store from essentially nothing is a daunting task, but the people in Manson are not shying away from it. They are determined to have a place in their community where they can buy a full selection of food on a regular basis. In their effort they can draw inspiration from the people in Gowrie, who were faced with the same situation and now have a new supermarket.

We salute the board that is leading the way to restart the Manson grocery store. We urge the residents of Manson and the surrounding areas to support the project. And we thank Mayor Anderson for being a good sport about having his image on a t-shirt.

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