OAK CLIFF, Texas – The ongoing government shutdown has brought difficult circumstances for families reliant on federal funding.
The suspension of SNAP benefits is touching not just families, however, but also the grocers that provide the food.
North Texas grocers and government shutdown 
Maybe not so much for big national or regional grocery store chains, but for the smaller markets and small business owners, it’s having a major impact.
Food Basket store director Joshua Southers says stopping SNAP benefits hurts in multiple ways.
Food Basket is in east Oak Cliff in the 75241 zip code, which brushes up against 75216.
Those two zip codes are in the top 10 areas for households that receive SNAP in Dallas County. A combined 63 percent of households receive food assistance in the area.
From Nov. 1 through Friday, in less than a week, Southers has seen a 40 percent drop in sales. That’s just one grocery store. Beyond that, it means many people don’t have a way to buy food essentials.
‘It’s a ripple effect’
What they’re saying:
“Sales have dropped quite a bit. First couple of days, we noticed our cash had went up a little bit, food stamps had went down, and then everyday it was a little bit more and a little bit more. So we’ve lost about 40 percent of our sales here,” Southers said.
“It’s a ripple effect,” Southers continued. “So I can’t afford to pay people just to stand here when you have just a few people shopping. It’s affecting my employees, it’s affecting the business and it’s affecting a lot of stuff.”
The food insecurity has forced Southers to do something he hasn’t done since the store opened: hire security.
“We have security guards now when we didn’t have to before, because we’ve had threats of possible looting, increased shoplifting,” Southers said. “They’re not getting their SNAP benefits. People get desperate if you can’t feed your family, people get desperate.”
Southers took this store so that it might be a grocery oasis in a food desert, and he’ll do what he has to until SNAP benefits are restored.
“But we’re going to survive. We’ll cut back what we can to make it through this hard time, you know,” Southers said.
The Source: Information in this update came from Joshua Southers.