Union Station Convenience Store, 684 Maple Road, Uniontown, is ready to receive staple grocery items to provide western Bourbon County residents with an option for food closer to home.
“We had already purchased the shed that we intended to eventually turn into climate-controlled storage, prior in the year,” said Ronni Clayton, who along with her husband, Dane, are the owners. “Our goal was to make one purchase at a time as the funds became available.”
But then the COVID-19 Pandemic hit, and the federal government gave funds to each state government and the Kansas government distributed funds to local entities. In Bourbon County, it was the county commission. The Clayton’s applied for a SPARK grant through the county.
To find out more about the Strengthening People and Revitalizing Kansas (SPARK)program, click here. https://covid.ks.gov/spark-recovery-office
“Once we received the SPARK funds in September we were able to really get things moving,” Clayton said.
The couple created another cold storage unit to accommodate the food that will be coming.
“We plan to sell staple grocery items such as bread, cheese, eggs, lunchmeat, hamburger, etc,” Clayton said.
The Claytons created climate-controlled storage outside of the main building, to free up space for additional coolers and shelving inside the convenience store, she said in a previous interview.
”The increased product space will be used for discounted grocery items as well as locally produced meats,” she said.
To see the previous interview: Union Station: Affordable Groceries Are Coming to Uniontown
“Everything is done except getting the groceries in the store,” Clayton said. ” We are still working out some details on that, but hope to start regular grocery deliveries soon. The holidays slowed everything a bit.”
” We are working with Nichols Hitching Post and Bronson Locker so far, with some other local businesses possibly in the works as well,” she said.
Learn more about Nichols Hitching Post from their Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/879444012103113/
Learn more about the Bronson Locker from here:
Bronson Locker Expands Due To Demand During Pandemic
The Clayton’s employ 12 people at their store.
They have some new things on the horizon as well.
” We have a lot of new ideas slowly taking form, so stay tuned,” Clayton said.
Awesome! Used to do a good deal of hunting in that area, and may again soon.