LAWRENCE COUNTY, Ky. (WSAZ) – With families who receive SNAP benefits struggling to buy food for their families, those struggles are extending to grocery stores.
The effect is especially felt for locally owned, rural grocery stores, who can receive an estimated 20-30 percent of their revenue from SNAP benefits.
One of those grocery stores is the Fallsburg Country Store, whose owner Harvey Bhavsar said that with SNAP benefits on hold, he’s seen fewer and fewer customers. In the last week, Bhavsar said he’s lost more than 25 percent of his business.
“Right now, more than 25 percent because of no food stamps and everything,” Bhavsar told WSAZ. “And around this area, especially here in Fallsburg, [there are] lots of poor people living here. They live on food stamps or disabilities or something like that. But right now, they don’t have money for food stamps.”
One in five people in Lawrence County receive SNAP benefits, and Bhavsar said in Fallsburg, it’s higher.
He’s tried to help some of his customers by allowing them to pay later, but he said he’s had to limit that because he has to pay his bills too.
“A lot of people are asking, ‘Harvey, open the charging accounts,’” he explained. “But I can’t open for all the people. I did open for some people who I trust, but I have to pay the bills too. Right?”
WSAZ spoke with several rural grocery stores across the region who said they’ve been losing a quarter of their business or more.
Bhavsar said around lunchtime on a Friday, his store – and especially his deli stand – is bustling. But now, it’s largely empty.
He said he’s lost about $2,500 this week, and he’s expecting that to grow.
“People right now are suffering here. You can see right now no customers are here too,” Bhavsar said. “I’m struggling right now.”
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