Last fall a locally owned and operated grocery store opened for business right in the heart of Waterloo.
Officials confirm that the business is facing some challenging times.
All In Grocers was a work in progress for several years. Located in the Walnut neighborhood in Waterloo, the grocery store opened its doors in October of 2023.
“As many of you know, we developed All In Grocers in 2023 to fill a need within our city that could help with continued investment from other real estate developers,” the owner said.
Now, just under a year later the business is being put on pause.
In a social media post from the business’s Facebook page, the owner of All In, Rodney A. Anderson said that some mistakes were made when the grocer initially opened.
“This is the first store that we’ve ever built, and millions of dollars invested in this community. But in our joy and celebration of finally getting a store I made mistakes,”
Anderson said.
Those mistakes included getting a wholesaler that was charging “too much for cost of goods” and the layout of products in the store.
“If these mistakes are not corrected All In Grocers development will also be leaving our community like the rest of the chain stores that left.”
So, the team at All In Grocers made the tough decision to close up the store temporarily.
The store as well as the accompanying restaurant Grandmas Hands will be closed from August 12th through September 16th so that the staff can have a bit of a soft reset.
During this time, staff will be working with their new wholesaler, “for better quality of product at a fair price.”
“We are fighting to stay in the community while others left and told us to adjust to their absence.”
Businesses Leaving Waterloo
Earlier this summer, the Hy-Vee Waterloo location on Logan Avenue closed its doors for good. Several other Hy-Vee locations in the state shut down as well.
The Senior Vice President of Communications, Tina Potthoff for Hy-Vee said that these closures were due to the stores not meeting “financial expectations.”
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