West Virginia abruptly loses 3 grocery stores as economic downturn accelerates

The economic downturn is coming for seemingly everyone.

And unfortunately, West Virginia is taking it on the chin as a combination of painful headwinds coalesce.

More specifically, West Virginia has already lost three grocery stores this year:

• Kroger (Gassaway)
• Shoppers Value Foods (Westmoreland)
• FasChek (Charleston)

These closures deprive communities in West Virginia of shopping choice and in many cases fresh food at a time when we all need good quality food more than ever. (To say nothing of the local jobs lost.)

Unfortunately, these stores probably aren’t coming back anytime soon, and here’s why:

Grocery stores are tough, low-margin businesses at the best of times.

And these aren’t exactly the best of times.

To start, you’ve got the longer-term difficulties of price inflation and labor shortages, which have made operating grocery stores incredibly challenging.

These would be tough enough on their own.

But add on tariffs and the trade war (and the resulting boycotts of US exports), plus the economic slowdown in large part precipitated by said trade war…

And it’s become something of a perfect storm for food businesses in general and grocery stores in particular.

It’s all making a tough situation in West Virginia worse.

How do we get out of this mess? Share your ideas in the comments!

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