A vision of growth materialized in November as Manson reopened its only grocery store, bringing life back to Calhoun County as it emerged from the grips of a growing food desert in rural Iowa. The opening was a capstone to many new developments in town over the year.

Nearly a year after the small Heartland Market chain closed locations in Manson and Rockwell City, Manson Hometown Grocery bounced back with a nonprofit model to try its luck in the town of 2,000. So far, the signs are promising.

“There’s been a lot of people who it took them a bit,” said Manson Mayor Dave Anderson, reflecting on concerns about changed shopping habits as Manson shoppers adjusted to getting their groceries in Fort Dodge temporarily. “A lot of (residents) work in Fort Dodge. It’s all about habits. But we have a nice clean store, it’s well stocked. People are coming around.”

Compared to pricing at local competitors, he said Manson Hometown Grocery is right on par or cheaper.

As the store moved away from prepackaged meats, it also started to reap one of the benefits of the nonprofit model: cheaper prices.

One benefit of the model is that as long as customers continue to shop there and keep revenue up, the store can lower prices.

“(Being nonprofit) is the biggest advantage we have,” Anderson said. “The wholesalers have taken all the money out of it. It’s a tough business. The margins are so thin.”

Though Manson didn’t quite reach its initial $200,000 fundraising goal, the more than $180,000 it did raise was sufficient to bring the vision to life: a model built by the community for the community with some old-fashioned elbow grease from volunteers. The nonprofit model, the first of its kind in at least Calhoun and Webster counties, was custom developed by Drake University Law School students in Des Moines.

“Knowing that the community got together to do this, we want to make sure we’re behind the community, making this work and doing what we have to do to keep the doors open,” said co-manager Jessica Teague at the store’s opening. “We’re all about community here.”

With former experience at nearly every other relevant retail chain in the area — Walmart, Target, Casey’s General Store and Dollar General — she believed the new team of nine employees and the grocery store’s volunteer board of directors had the knowledge they needed to make the effort a success, even up against formidable chains like Dollar General that Nick Graham, the owner of Manson’s last store, blamed for much of its demise.

Now, the store is more than a place to shop, it’s a block of stability that is already paying dividends.

And groceries are great, but Manson has a whole lot more going on.

State of the Art custom signs and decor opened on Main Street in 2020. Debbie’s Cafe and Main Line Boutique are opening early this year, Divine 0 Nine Salon became S & J Salon, and the old Foley Building at 1012 Main St. was stabilized for resale thanks to a Derelict Building grant.

After gaining ownership of the Foley Building, the city of Manson received $35,000 in a matching Derelict Building grant. With $70,000, the city put a new roof on the iconic downtown front many generations grew up shopping in, stabilized a beam in the building and had asbestos removed.

“Now, we have a stabilized building we can sell to a business that would be vital and complement our community,” said Thelma McGough, director of Manson Economic Development. “We didn’t want to have a building fall in or be bought for cheap and not taken care of.”

KC Nielsen Ltd., a John Deere dealership, reopened after a devastating fire destroyed its building, Star Energy transitioned ownership to Growmark and four new homes were built.

The list could go on for a while on the big changes happening in a small town.

“I’ve always admired Manson for what they had going on,” said Anderson, reflecting on the environment that has cultivated success. “We’re so close to Fort Dodge. A lot of our population works in Fort Dodge, but yet they want everything in town, all the amenities.”

To him, the success in challenging times says there are a lot of folks who think outside of the box.

“For the grocery store, we put together a board of individuals and, in all honesty, I never would’ve guessed those people in one group could do it — they did awesome,” he said. “As far as local businesses, they have fairly strong followings.”

During the height of pandemic restrictions, consumers stepped up to support those in need through things like curbside service.

“Manson’s very good at supporting its own,” Anderson said.

“The community is very positive. The success of the fundraising for the grocery store really brought the community together,” McGough said. “The ones opening new businesses are people that are raising families in Manson or who have (before). They believe in community. That’s where they want to stay and want to grow.”

She said the completion of the city’s Main Street Streetscape project in 2019 preceded business success in 2020 by showing Manson that the city was committed to community betterment. A newly constructed Main Street and infrastructure investment, in turn, may have proved that a new, updated look makes for an attractive business environment.