JEWELL, Iowa — The City of Jewell came together to save another community staple, their grocery store.

In 2001, the town of 1,200 came together to save their local hardware store. Now, two decades later, the town rallied again and raised funds to save their local grocery store.

Garren Zanker was the key to saving the store; the 30-year veteran of the industry was determined to make it more than a novelty store.

“Once we had the community behind us, we started selling shares and doing fundraisers, and by May of that year in 2020, we had enough money to save the grocery store,” said Zanker. “We kind of provide those essentials for everybody, and if I can just sell them another special thing while they’re here, I kind of take pride in that.”

Members of the community see the store as a vital part of the community and are glad it could be saved.

“There are a lot of locals up here, every day. And you always run into your neighbors,” said Luke Johnson, a regular at the store.

“To keep a community thriving, you’ve gotta have local business and people to support that local business,” said Lynn Beyer. “Well, he’s always putting in something new for you to come and shop for.”

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