LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – Rural West Texans know picking up something like an avocado for their guacamole isn\u2019t as easy as it sounds.<\/p>\n
For a family in Matador, opening a local grocery store isn\u2019t just about putting food on the table, but keeping their neighbors safe and their town alive.<\/p>\n
Chris and Vanessa Paul are opening a grocery store, Paul\u2019s Neighborhood Market, after the town\u2019s Lowe\u2019s closed last year, leaving residents without a nearby place to buy fresh produce.<\/p>\n
\u201cAllsup\u2019s put in a case for some produce for lettuce, tomatoes, that kind of stuff. But you know, it\u2019s hard to get avocados and serranos and all the other vegetables that people enjoy,\u201d Vanessa said.<\/p>\n
To go grocery shopping in Lubbock, Matador families have to drive 82 miles one way.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, people were driving to Lubbock or Childress or Plainview. Floydada has a Lowe\u2019s and that\u2019s 39 miles away,\u201d Vanessa Paul said.<\/p>\n
The Pauls have kids in sports and FFA, making it difficult to spend several hours a week on grocery trips, but that\u2019s not all they were worried about.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith gas being as high as it is, and then we have a market, we have older people in the community and the AI plants coming in, they\u2019re nervous about driving on the highways with the semis. And then we have, we are a pretty poor income community and a lot of people don\u2019t have vehicles that can get to a grocery store an hour away and back,\u201d Vanessa said.<\/p>\n
They waited for about a year for someone to buy the store.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a necessity. We need it. Without a grocery store, you know, who stays? Eventually everybody goes, you know?\u201d Vanessa said.<\/p>\n
After a year with no interest, they decided to open the store themselves.<\/p>\n
Vanessa said it took some convincing, since neither had run a grocery store before.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s retired army and I\u2019m X-ray tech. So, my mom did groceries when we were growing up, my parents had a grocery store, but this is kind of new to us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Pauls are stocking the shelves now with fresh items like produce, dairy, eggs, and bread. They\u2019re working to provide even more than the pantry staples, though.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re gonna have deli. My mom is going to make sandwiches and salads when she\u2019s here,\u201d Vanessa said.<\/p>\n
The Pauls say they\u2019ve had a lot of help in Matador to prepare the store for opening, including help with unloading, refrigeration, equipment and plumbing.<\/p>\n
\u201cBert has helped with electricity. We\u2019ve had people that have helped with signs. We had a friend, a member of the Roaring Springs Ranch Club. His wife did our windows,\u201d Vanessa said.<\/p>\n
In a rural small town where graduates are moving off to the city and jobs are hard to come by, people like the Pauls say they are working to make it special.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all about trying to help our community, trying to help our community stay alive,\u201d Chris said.<\/p>\n
Paul\u2019s Neighborhood Market plans to open Oct. 1.<\/p>\n
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