photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Reanna Slagle, an owner of the Jody's Market, checks out a customer at the micro-grocery story near Ninth and New Hampshire streets.

A bit has changed in the world of corner grocery stores.

Finding one, of course, is the biggest change. A popular pastime for certain retiree groups is to try to recite all the locations that used to be a grocery store in Lawrence. Based on group tellings, they are numerous (and you had to walk uphill both ways to get to them.)

Maybe that last part is not entirely accurate. Most of them, in fact, were in locations that were far handier for walkers than, say, semi-trucks and their long trailers. That’s probably one — of several — reasons that the corner grocery store is a tough business to find in today’s world. Maybe the jet aircraft made the world smaller, but you can argue semi-trucks had the opposite effect on stores.

“One of the big grocery suppliers won’t come to us at all because we don’t have a loading dock,” Chad Slagle, one of the owners of the new Jody’s Market in downtown Lawrence, told me.

Perhaps you remember in June I reported that downtown was going to get a new corner grocery store-type of business. Jody’s Market indeed opened in July at 10 E. Ninth St., in a spot that is about halfway between Massachusetts and New Hampshire streets.

Jody’s Market, 10 E. Ninth Street, is pictured on Aug. 20, 2024.

It has to be one of the more unique businesses to open in Lawrence recently, so I decided to go back to find out more about how it’s fared. Owners Chad and Reanna Slagle said they’ve been thrilled with the welcome they’ve received from customers in downtown Lawrence, but there also have been about a thousand challenges in getting the store open.

Chad estimated the store has about 1,000 products, and each of them has presented its own little challenge.

“That’s probably one of the most challenging things,” Chad said. “We have to do smaller orders and smaller suppliers.”

The duo is getting it figured out. The shelves were full, and there was a steady stream of customers in the store on Tuesday afternoon. The shop certainly won’t have everything that a modern grocery store has, and there are no apologies for that.

“We aren’t backed by a huge corporation like Dillons,” Reanna said. “Hopefully people understand that as they spend money with us it goes back to help the store grow. We can’t be a Dillons, but we are trying our hardest to be a little corner store for them.”

But lest you think the shop is just a glorified convenience store, it doesn’t have that feel either. There’s a rack of produce when you first walk in — potatoes, tomatoes, bananas, peaches, onions and apples were among the offerings on this particular day. A cooler had a few more selections, including carrots, salad kits and locally grown jalapeños. For the grab-and-go crowd, there were Hawaiian ham sliders, “crazy taco pinwheels,” plus cheese, salami and olives if you want to whip up your own charcuterie board. Good luck with that at a convenience store. (It is possible, but I suggest telling the butler to call them Slim James instead of Slim Jims.)

On the shelves, there are household basics like ketchup, salsa and other condiments. There are also a few staples, like flour and other stock ingredients. There are canned soups, boxes of cookies and a small section of nonfood items like household cleaners and toilet paper. There’s even a section for canned fish, and there are other unexpected sights scattered throughout the store. Many of them are vegan.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Grocery items make up the bulk of the estimated 1,000 products stocked at Jody’s Market in downtown Lawrence, pictured on Aug. 20, 2024.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

New micro-grocery Jody’s Market often must deal with smaller suppliers to keep their shelves stocked.

There are also some of the fundamentals of office snacking at the front of the store, including bags of chips and canned drinks, although don’t look for Pepsi or Coke products. The big soda distributors also weren’t too excited to serve a corner store. Chad said the distributors were reluctant to put the shop on one of the regular routes.

But that may change. The couple said the store is growing as it goes. Part of that process is helping Lawrence residents understand what a corner store is all about. Chad and Reanna came to understand the concept while living in San Francisco and frequenting bodegas and other such small grocers. But that concept hasn’t been prevalent in Lawrence for a long while.

“It is going to take some time for this to become a routine for people,” Chad said.

But the Slagles thinks there are plenty of local residents ready to give it a try. Already the store is building up a regular following among downtown employees who want a snack or want a grab-and-go meal for lunch. Others are picking up a few items as they leave work because they say they don’t want to mess with the lines at a full-service grocery store. Others live downtown, and Chad said he thinks Jody’s Market — which in case you are wondering is named after Reanna’s mother — has an important role to play as downtown attracts more residents.

“I think we are on the leading edge of making a sustainable downtown district,” Chad said. “Building downtown to be more than just a tourist or entertainment district.”

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Chad Slagle, an owner of Jody’s Market in downtown Lawrence, stocks onions in the store’s produce section on Aug. 20, 2024.

Indeed, a downtown grocery store has been on the wish list for many downtown stakeholders for more than a decade. They’ve tried to attract the large chains to bigger downtown buildings — a Price Chopper was close to completing a deal for the former Borders bookstore building at Seventh and New Hampshire streets years ago.

Whether Jody’s Market will be big enough to satisfy those grocery store advocates remains to be seen. But what is clear is that the Slagles are enjoying some benefits of being small. Customers are almost always interacting with one of the owners of the store when they are checking out, and the Slagles are starting to learn fun details along the way.

“I would say we already have some regular customers,” Reanna said. “We are learning a lot of people who work in the area, which is kind of neat to get to know people, learn people’s names and faces. It makes us more in touch with the people around us.”

Perhaps not everything has changed in the world of corner grocery stores.