‘It’s a domino effect’: Independent grocery stores took a hit during government-shutdown SNAP delays

It’s not unusual to see Mario’s Westside Market’s namesake roaming the aisles of his popular grocery store, chatting up regulars who tend to know his face.

It is rare, however, to see market owner Mario Berlanga have to run a cash register.

But that’s exactly what he was doing Wednesday evening when his typically bustling business — which operates in the middle of a food desert — was significantly less busy.

“I’ve had to send employees home because it’s been slow,” he told the Las Vegas Review-Journal in between ringing out a slow flow of customers. “That’s why I’m working the cash register.”

The culprit, Berlanga said, was a cascading phenomenon triggered by the longest-running federal government shutdown in history, which disrupted food stamps for the majority of his clientele at the start of November.

“It’s a domino effect,” he said. “It affects me. It affects the employees. It affects the customers.”

Up to 80 percent of Mario’s regulars rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as SNAP, said Berlanga. He said his store is the busiest during the first half of each month.

The disruption of those benefits translated to weekly losses of more than 50 percent of business this month.

Berlanga said that a longer-than-expected road construction project next to his store isn’t helping.

The shutdown’s pause to SNAP benefits, he said, has made him wary about how future funding stalemates in Congress might affect his business.

“Everybody is scared,” Berlanga said. “If they did it this month, what’s going to happen next month, or the month after?”

Berlanga added: “We shouldn’t have to live being scared of (whether) people are going to get benefits or not.”

Half-a-million Nevadans affected

The federal food stamps program helps feed about 500,000 Nevadans at a monthly cost of about $90 million, according to the State of Nevada.

Gov. Joe Lombardo’s administration moved to inject almost $40 million into food banks through the Legislature as the federal program was poised to run out of benefits Nov. 1.

The emergency funding meant that hungry Nevadans — which also included federal workers furloughed during the shutdown — could secure food assistance, but not dollars to shop at their preferred grocery stores.

Before the state’s dollars were approved, Retail Association of Nevada President Bryan Wachter warned the Interim Finance Committee last month about what could follow.

He said he was worried about the economic impact to grocers such as Mario’s, which were projected to lose up to 60 percent of business in the first week of November.

Amid a legal battle over using emergency dollars to fund SNAP, the U.S. Department of Agriculture eventually released partial funds. Nevada announced Friday that the benefits had been fully restored following Wednesday night’s congressional vote to reopen the government.

“Grocers are at the center of their communities, and our mission has always been to make food accessible to everyone,” wrote Sarah Pettit, public affairs director for Associated Food Stores.

The organization advocates for independent grocery stores across the U.S., including Mario’s.

“We are relieved and encouraged that SNAP benefits are once again fully available, providing critical support to families across our community,” she said in a statement.

Lingering effects

Uncertainty had also hit The After Market, a hybrid grocery store in far northeast Las Vegas.

Sales in November had declined about 10 percent, the Rev. Dewayne McCoy, the store’s founder and CEO, told the Review-Journal Thursday.

Formerly a manager at the Three Square food bank, McCoy said he was inspired to open the market during the pandemic, when food insecurity in the valley bubbled.

McCoy recalled the long car lines at food pantries, carrying locals who could not afford to eat.

“My concern is that as a whole — as a society — we didn’t prepare better,” he said. “We treated the pandemic as a one-off. Food insecurity has always been an issue.”

The After Market operates on an 80-20 model, which sees earnings from the store fund a pantry for those who can’t afford groceries, McCoy said.

“The less people who shop in the retail shop, the less benefits we have to serve on the pantry side,” he said.

Losses in November had degraded his ability to keep the pantry appropriately supplied, McCoy said. The pantry ran out of frozen protein last week and had to rely more on Three Square and private donations this week to stay afloat.

Even when partial SNAP benefits were restored, shoppers hadn’t been spending the way they regularly do, he said, theorizing that they might be waiting to stock up for the upcoming Thanksgiving Day.

McCoy was hoping to see more customers next week, he said, adding that he fears the shutdown’s effects could reverberate beyond the government’s reopening.

“It’s going to be hard to balance our operation, if that makes sense,” he said.

‘It’s hard for everybody’

To help during the upcoming holiday, Berlanga said he was considering offering affordable Thanksgiving Day grocery packages, an initiative that may cut into Mario’s earnings.

Berlanga said that it had been difficult to see shoppers walk up to get checked out at Mario’s, only to find out they don’t have enough, or any, SNAP benefits left in their cards.

“And then we have to void everything off and then they have to start picking what’s the most important items,” Berlanga said.

He said it’s been a challenge for the entire industry.

“It’s hard for everybody … every grocery store,” Berlanga said. “But it’s harder for the little guys because we have nothing to fall back on.”

Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com.