“We are slowly working to get everything filled,” said April Carlson, who took the reins as manager a little more than two months ago. “It’s a slow process, but I think we’ll do it.”

What the Stratford Food Center needs now are customers to help drive the revenues that will enable the store to provide an even greater selection to local customers.

“It can be a vicious cycle,” Carlson said. “You’ve got to have customers, and you have to have product on the shelf, but we can’t buy it if we don’t have money coming in.”

The troubles started with mechanical breakdowns over the summer, and then — as so many businesses are experiencing, a labor shortage making it difficult to hire a new manager.

“This summer we had a lot of breakdowns in our freezers and lost a lot of product,” Carlson said.

Carlson has served on the board of directors of the Stratford Food Center for several years and so was up-to-date on the different challenges as they piled up. Turnover in the manager’s position was only making things more difficult, so that’s when Carlson decided to step in herself.

“I knew we were struggling to find someone, and I also knew that a lot of people in the community really wanted us to hire someone that they knew, someone from the community,” she said.

Carlson grew up in the area and already had a job in Boone, where she had worked for 30 years. Still, she felt like it was time to make a change and take on a new opportunity to be of service in her community.

“I just felt like this is where I needed to be,” Carlson said.

The Stratford Food Center was a cooperative venture of community members when it opened about 20 years ago. Residents wanted a local option for basic groceries, without requiring people to drive at least 20 miles to a larger grocery store elsewhere. For elderly residents, who may no longer drive, or prefer not to drive out of town, the Stratford Food Center fills a critical need.

“The store is really important to a lot of people,” Carlson said.

And it’s more than just basic groceries. The store also has a kitchen, which provides a number of home-cooked meals to Athens Woods Estates each week day.

Carry-out meals are also available to the general public from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Monday through Friday. The taco salad meal is a favorite among local residents, according to Carlson. But there are many choices that are listed each week on the Stratford Food Center’s Facebook page. Typical hot meals range from country fried steak, French dip sandwiches, pork chops, and much more.

In addition, Chester’s Fried Chicken, available anytime by calling in advance, is another popular menu item for the store.

As the Stratford Food Center builds back its grocery selection, it is also increasing its cooperation with the Dayton grocery store. The two locally owned stores have long shared trucks and worked together, but they are now building on that cooperative venture, according to Carlson.

“We are looking at sharing produce,” Carlson said. “That would reduce spoilage and give our customers more to choose from.”

The two stores are also looking at making joint alcohol purchases.

“There’s a minimum order of $1,000 on alcohol, so if we can share that it would help us both,” she said.

The Stratford Food Center has long offered local wines, as well as beer and other adult beverages.

For Carlson, working each day in her hometown is a rewarding experience.

“I enjoy people asking questions and hearing their input,” she said. “I always try to listen to their ideas. We’re happy to order things in that they request, but we also want to make sure that it’s something that a lot of shoppers would enjoy so that it doesn’t go to spoilage faster.”

Carlson is grateful for the level of community support, and invites new people to check out the grocery store and make a point of shopping locally first whenever possible.

“We do have a lot of support from the community,” Carlson said. “There was a fundraiser that really helped us.”

The spaghetti dinner fundraiser was held at the Stratford school in November and sponsored jointly by the Stratford Lions Club and Stratford Community Development Corp.

“We’re making progress,” Carlson said. “Now we are looking for a new board member to replace me since I took over as manager.”

The Stratford Food Center has more than 100 stockholders who invested to make the store a reality two decades ago. The next annual meeting of the group is slated for February, at which time a new board member to replace Carlson will be elected. Other current board members include Bill Chally, Megan Chally, Garret Ament and Chase Haman.