Evansville's grocery sold $75 memberships for 24/7 app access to a mostly unstaffed store

In an NPR report from Minnesota Public Radio, Alex and Caileen Ostenson, who moved to Evansville, population 600, about five years earlier, describe how they approached the town's grocery gap. The store that had operated for more than 70 years closed, so residents faced a trip of at least 40 miles round trip. Alex, a diesel mechanic by training, looked to technology.

Members pay $75 a year and open the store 24 hours a day through a phone app, or a key fob for those who prefer one. Customers scan items with their phone and pay in the app. Only members using their phone or fob can enter, there are security cameras, and the couple says theft has not been an issue. The store is staffed three days a week and customers can request special orders on a chalkboard.

The Ostensons aimed for 50 paying members in the first year and reached that in the first week. Alex says membership money partly funded the first inventory.

Small-town grocery margins are thin, so staffing every open hour was not sustainable.

The app identifies each member, which replaces a cashier and keeps the store to paying locals.

Memberships raise cash before the first shelf is stocked.

Customers value the convenience, such as one forgotten ingredient on a Sunday, enough to pay the fee.

In a market too small for a staffed store, a prepaid membership plus technology can cut labour cost and turn customers into backers.

A University of Minnesota researcher on rural grocery viability said the model was worth replicating, especially with high gas prices and worker shortages. Alex won a two-year Rural Innovation Fellowship, with a stipend that lets him quit mechanic work to expand the model to other small towns. A member said she still does not do all her shopping there because the store cannot carry everything.