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Pilot Grove grocery store to open with community help

After four years without a grocery store in town, Pilot Grove has added a new multifaceted market for the community.

Twenty three investors including Laurie Beach formed a group called Pilot Grove Community Betterment. Beach contributed the land to owners Cody and Paula Tyler for the new store.

“It’s kind of like giving to your church or your cemetery,” Beach said. “You don’t really give because you want a big showing. You give because you want to keep it there and you know it’s there for you to use.”

Being born and raised in Pilot Grove, Beach said since the 1940s, there were two grocery stores but the last one closed four years ago. She also added that people have been driving 20 minutes just to go to the closest grocery store from town and many people who couldn’t drive had to take the bus.

Cody Tyler envisions the store to be more than just a grocery store.

“We’re going to have different sections for small town, too,” Tyler said. “We’re also going to have sporting goods. We’ll have made-to-order sandwiches. We’ll also serve breakfast in the morning. We’ll have three to four sit-down tables on one side of the store where like I said, people from the community, they can come in and sit and drink coffee, eat lunch.”

Tyler also said that he’s expecting people from the Katy Trail to come, stop, and rest or eat lunch or breakfast.

The Tyler’s market will open in November for everyone within the city as well as for the bikers from the Katy Trail, which is a half of a block away.

This story originally aired as part of Business Beat, a weekly program about business and economics in mid-Missouri.