South Carolina town’s only grocery store closes, forcing locals to walk five hours to get fresh food

A South Carolina town will lose its only grocery store in a matter of days, forcing locals to make a long trip to get fresh food.

The IGA store in Pamplico, Florence County, has been open for decades, but will close on Sept. 27.

The nearest supermarket is 24 kilometres away in a nearby village. For those with a car, it takes 20 minutes by car. Those without a car will have to hitchhike or walk for five hours, as there is no public transport.

That makes Pamplico the latest of America’s so-called food deserts, which occur when a third of a rural area’s population lives more than 10 miles from a supermarket. About 19 million people now face that reality.

The store’s lease was set to expire soon, so the company decided not to renew it, said a representative for Alex Lee, IGA’s parent company. WBTW13 News.

The store is older and smaller than others, they added, and there are other IGA stores in the area.

The spokesman said the 26 employees will be able to find work at other IGA stores in the surrounding area.

The company attempted to find another retailer to move into the building and operate it as a grocery store, but was unsuccessful in its efforts, they added.

Local resident Tiffanie Wright said she would miss having a full grocery store in the area and feels sorry for those who can’t drive farther away.

“This is the only store we have here with groceries,” he told WBTW News13.

“I know we have a Dollar General around the corner, but it doesn’t have as much stuff as IGA,” she said.

“But I hate it for the people who don’t even have a car or anything like that. They have to find transportation to get to the store.”

The closest grocery store for Pamplico residents is now 15 miles away at KJ’s Market in Florence.

This comes amid concerns about the growing number of food deserts in the United States, where communities lack access to fresh, affordable food.

According to the USDA, a food desert occurs when more than 33 percent of the population in urban areas is more than one mile from a supermarket.

In a rural setting, 33 percent of people must live more than 10 miles from a supermarket.

By this standard, more than 18 million people lived in food deserts in 2019, AP News reported.

Closed stores mean people have little to no access to fresh, healthy produce, forcing them to buy packaged, highly processed foods.

A so-called “retail apocalypse” is sweeping the United States, with stores of all kinds closing across the country.

Many brick-and-mortar retailers are facing higher operating costs and tight margins, while others are plagued by rampant theft.

Even big retailers like Macy’s are closing stores across the country, and last month it was reported that Big Lots was shuttering 315 stores in several states as its financial troubles worsened.

There were almost 2,600 store closures in the first four months of 2024If this trend continues, almost 8,000 people will have been lost by the end of the year.

In recent months, Walmart has closed three more underperforming stores. Best Buy closed ten. in March.

Dollar stores have also been hit hard: 99 Cents Only announced in April that it would close all 371 of its stores in California, Texas, Arizona and Nevada.

The 1,000 closures of Family Dollar and its sister company Dollar Tree will occur in the next three years.

Express, a mall staple, filed for bankruptcy in April and said it would close 95 Express locations along with all of its UpWest stores.

In early May, Rue21, the teen fashion chain that is a fixture in malls across the United States, also said it will close all 543 of its U.S. stores after going bankrupt.

Badcock Home Furniture & More said in late July that it would close its 380 stores across the South after filing for bankruptcy earlier this year.