A Minnesota town got 24/7 groceries back with a $75-membership self-serve store

When Alex and Caileen Ostenson moved to Evansville, Minnesota (population about 600), the local grocery had just closed after more than 70 years, leaving a 20-mile drive to the nearest supermarket. In early 2020 the couple began brainstorming how a store could survive there, and with local donations remodelled a main street storefront into Main Street Market, a self-serve grocery that opened around mid-2021.

The design: traditional staffed hours three days a week (Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, with shelves stocked Wednesday when orders arrive), and membership hours otherwise. A $75 annual membership — with six- and three-month options — gives 24/7 door access via phone app or key fob, self-scanning checkout, and a counter scanner for the less tech-comfortable. The system logs every visitor and purchase; theft has not been an issue.

It worked fast: the goal of 50 memberships in year one was hit in the first week, and those early memberships partially funded the first inventory. Alex calls the finances sustainable though the couple weren't yet drawing salaries; a $30,000 West Central Initiative fellowship let him quit his diesel-mechanic job to develop the model. With a University of Minnesota survey finding 80% of rural grocers have no succession plan, the state's regional development director hopes the model can be replicated.

Staffing only three days a week attacks the operating costs that kill rural groceries.

Membership pre-sales de-risk inventory and test demand before the shelves are filled.

Commodity phone-app access and scan-and-pay made 24-hour service viable for a 600-person town.

Logging and cameras kept shrinkage a non-issue without guards or gates.

In low-margin rural retail, the scarce inputs are labour and capital — a membership model turns both into community pre-commitments instead of loans or payroll.

A year in, the store is financially sustainable and expanding its model with foundation support; large urban grocers and Amazon's contactless stores are running variations of the same concept, and University of Minnesota researchers are watching Evansville as a candidate template for towns at risk of becoming food deserts.