Food lockers are one way Theo Ramsey is helping ensure small towns in southwest Iowa don’t become food deserts. When the hardware store owner and his wife feared the local grocery in their town was going to close, they bought it.

     “We were looking at small town grocery stores in our area closing left and right,” says Ramsey. “We thought about what our town would look like without a grocery. We saw lockers where people could pick up deliveries being used in Europe, Japan, and other areas and by bigger grocery stores in the U.S.”

     Initially, they bought the local grocery. By setting up banks of delivery lockers in neighboring towns, they were able to expand their business and maintain food access. Customers order groceries online. Once orders are delivered to the lockers, customers enter a code to unlock the locker box and pick up their groceries.

     In addition to the banks of lockers, the Ramseys make it easy for their customers with curbside pickup of both hardware and groceries in their hometown of Lenox. They also offer Fresh Out Of The Box locker and home delivery services to dozens of rural communities.

     “We started out making home deliveries every day, but have since gone to once a week,” says Ramsey. “People love it and wonder why they’ve been driving distances to get food.”

     Ramsey notes that some people just want theirs left in a bin, while others look forward to the delivery. “Kids who have moved away will order for their parents who still live here,” he says. “The parents always have a big smile when we deliver.”

     The Ramseys have expanded their home delivery service to a wide range of food desert communities in their part of the state.

     “People call and ask about what we have gone through and would we want to set up in their community,” says Ramsey.

     “The world is changing, and we have to figure out a way to change with it if we’re going to help keep our small towns vibrant with needed amenities,” he adds. “If FARM SHOW readers have questions, I’ll do what I can to help point them in the right direction.”

     Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Ramsey’s Market & Ace Hardware, 200 North Walnut St., Lenox, Iowa 50851 (ph 641-333-2844; theo@ramseysmarket.com; www.ramseysmarket.com).