Illinois grocer to take part in NGA Foundation’s 2024 Student Case Study Competition

Indie case study

The NGA Foundation, the nonprofit arm of the National Grocers Association, announced on Monday that Quincy, Illinois-based Niemann Foods Inc. will be the participating retailer in the 2024 Student Case Study Competition. This year’s topic is “Maintaining a Competitive Edge.”

Hosted annually by the NGA Foundation, the competition brings college students from across the country to the NGA Show, where they present solutions to an issue currently impacting the independent grocery industry. What a great opportunity for college students to interact with independent grocers. And because this is a competition, winners and their schools receive a cash prize. Music to any college kid’s ears.

Dating back to 1917, Niemann Foods owns and operates more than 130 supermarkets, pharmacies, convenience, pet and hardware stores under several banners including County Market, Harvest Market, Haymakers, Ace Hardware, Pet Supplies Plus and Save-A-Lot in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri and Wisconsin.

“It’s a great honor for Niemann Foods to play such an important role in the learning experience of students pursuing careers in the grocery industry,” said Gerry Kettler, director of consumer affairs at Niemann Foods and chairman of the Niemann Foods Foundation. “We are excited to see the ideas that emerge and the students’ impressions of independent grocers, who are such a unique and important part of the nation’s food distribution system.”

Rural grocery summit

Independent grocery stores continue to be challenged because of consolidation in the grocery sector. And for rural areas, food access is even more of a challenge. In an effort to support rural grocers, The Rural Grocery Initiative at Kansas State University, which aims to sustain locally-owned rural grocery stores in rural communities, will co-host, along with the Hunger Solutions Institute at Auburn University, the National Rural Grocery Summit June 24-25 in Montgomery, Alabama.

The summit brings together grocery store owners and community leaders, food suppliers, academic researchers, healthy food access stakeholders, policy makers, and funders to “connect, share lessons learned, and innovate around best practices for sustaining locally-owned rural grocery stores and improving access to healthy food in rural communities,” according to the Rural Grocery Initiative website.

Thanks for reading the final edition of The Local Checkout. It’s been a pleasure writing about independent grocers and reminding readers that “grocery stores are like people, they all matter.”