Students dismay at closing of grocery store

Piggly Wiggly in Holly Springs, Miss. closed its doors on Friday, Sept. 30, and students at Rust College are already feeling the effect.

One of the closest grocery stores to the college campus students could easily walk to Piggly Wiggly to pick up food, snacks, and drinks. It’s a much easier access and students do not have to ride to the store unless they are doing a large grocery trip.

But those who don’t have a vehicle on campus don’t mind making the short walk to the store. Some students like to shop at Piggly Wiggly because of the cheaper prices they have compared to Wal-Mart. Others like the selection of items that they can find in Piggly Wiggly compared to the other local grocery store or even the dollar stores.

Yvette Edward Curry, a mass communications major, says that she is upset about the closing of Piggly Wiggly because the meat selection at Piggly Wiggly is better than other local grocery stores in Holly Springs, and is better priced than Wal-Mart.The thought of spending more money on any product is enough to make students consider how they are already on limited budgets.

Students often rely on parents back home to send them money via services like Money Gram and Western Union. Western Union is commonly used and is located at Piggly Wiggly. But with the closing of the store Western Union becomes out of reach to students who don’t have transportation.

Computer science junior, Patrice Jones, said “Now I have to go all the way to Wal-Mart to receive money that family member back in Chicago send. This is going to be a hassle because I could walk to Piggly Wiggly but walking to Wal-Mart is out of the question.”

The strain of the closing of this store may be hard for students to overcome unless another grocery store replaces it soon. Another student, Travonte Franks says that he wouldn’t mind if they would replace it with a Kroger so he can use his Kroger card for discounts and his EBT card as well to save even more money.

The closing of this store will not only affect the students of Rust College but the community as a whole will be affected. Jobs will be lost, access to the groceries will be limited, and even access to other needs will be limited. The closing of this business might also lead fewer customers for other business in the area where Piggly Wiggly was located.

If people only visited other business because going to Piggly Wiggly reminded them to go by there, not having Piggly Wiggly there will decline business. Yet the plus is there for store like Big Star and Wal-Mart, because that is one less business they are in competition with. This could potentially increase their sales with people of the community and the students of Rust College having to find some where else to fulfill those needs that were once covered by Piggly Wiggly.