Newton grocer finds niche in injured food BY BILL WILSON The Wichita Eagle
NEWTON - Kent Dirks is bucking a Kansas business trend, opening an independent grocery store that's the answer to rising food bills for many Harvey County residents. Dirks and his family founded Meridian Grocery, 101 S. Meridian on Newton's west side, to bring discounted, distressed food to the area about 50 percent cheaper than retail.
"It's not a get-rich-quick scheme by any means," Dirks said. "But we're a stable business, and we're only 1 year old."
Successful independent grocers are a rarity in Kansas, said Marci Penner, a small-business analyst who directs the Kansas Sampler Foundation.
"They're dropping like flies, but there are some really great efforts around the state," she said.
"The ones that succeed find a niche that allows them to work... and it sounds like Dirks has."
Dirks' niche is damaged groceries, part of a supply network based in Cabool, Mo. That company, Shetler's Discount Grocery, purchases truckloads of distressed food from food brokers and insurance companies. It then distributes an eclectic collection of goods to stores like Dirks' in banana boxes.
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