COON RAPIDS, Iowa — The Frohlich family has been playing a vital role in this community since 1919, and they know it.

“If you don’t have this, then you have to drive 30 miles to get stuff … We bring people in here so therefore they’ll go and shop at other businesses and that’s very important,” Janel Frohlich Sporrer said.

“We’re one of the cornerstones of Main Street because a lot of these communities have a hard time continuing on if they don’t have that,” Jeff Frohlich said.

We bring people in here, so therefore they’ll go and shop at other businesses and that’s very important.”

Frohlich’s Super-Valu has been here on Main Street for as long as Coon Rapids can remember. At 6′ 7″, Jerome Frohlich was a giant of the town and replacing him took a team effort from his five kids. But, here they all are today, laughing and telling old stories about the work they’ve done to keep the family business going, and to keep a grocery store so vital to a community going for all these years.

They run the concessions stands at the town sports fields, they grill burgers and brats in the parking lot next to the store from spring through fall, and they put in long, thankless hours to run the store and full special orders.

They won’t be able to do it forever, of course, and talk of the future isn’t exactly fun.

“My son is the fifth generation, would be the fifth generation owner. I’ll leave it to him to decide if he wants to run this place or find somebody. Or maybe somebody will buy it, you know. We just go day to day,” Janel said.

The Frohlichs said they got a huge boost from the pandemic. People stayed home and shopped local and were reminded of how nice that can be. It also jumpstarted the ‘working from home’ revolution that’s been fueling a rebirth in small town America ever since. So, maybe the ‘good old days’ in Coon Rapids are in for a second coming.