I actually support this idea;

The City of Sioux Falls will be launching a new mobile market offering healthy foods at an affordable cost.

This would include multiple buses with markets stationed throughout neighborhoods in Sioux Falls.

The city will be giving two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to Sioux Falls Thrive to pilot the “Eat Well Sioux Falls mobile market.”

One of the best things about this idea is that the group pushing this, Thrive, lead by former city councilor Michelle Erpenbach, is that they are not re-inventing the wheel, they are instituting the proposal built on proven programs used in other cities and countries.

If you watch the entire presser, you will also realize that the program is expected to be self-sustaining after 18 months. In other words this isn’t just another problem the city throws money at and forgets about a year later, there is a long term goal to make this work.

One of the other intriguing parts is that they will try to help people sign up for SNAP benefits if they need that assistance. I would go even a step farther and have job listings and access to employment and higher education opportunities.

Let’s face it, between inflation, the roller coaster economy, high cost of housing and low wage jobs in Sioux Falls we have put ourselves in this place.

I was astonished to hear in the latest financial report from the city that in 2022 over 50% of sales tax revenue came from restaurants. The hospitality industry is known for some of the lowest wages of any sector.

I’m not sure why the service industry is propping up our sales tax collection but it is proof our economy in Sioux Falls is being supported by a low wage industry. Maybe Thrive needs to look at this disconnect?

I think everyone should have access to affordable food but they also should have access to liveable wages.

6 Thoughts on “Sioux Falls Mobile Grocery Store

  1. D@ily Spin on April 28, 2023 at 9:28 am said:

    This concept has worked well in other parts of the country. Minimum wage workers can’t afford a car. Bringing food and support service to them is worth investigating. I take back all I’ve said in the past about Erpenbach. She’s focusing on the prevalent welfare community. Wasn’t possible as councilor amidst socialist criminally corrupt city government.

  2. Very Stable Genius on April 28, 2023 at 1:09 pm said:

    We have the local talent to bring Citibank to South Dakota? We have the local talent to create the Sanford Health Care system? We have the local talent to build the Steel District and Cherapa, and the energy, time, and money for the Arc of Dreams, the Levitt, and Phillips to the Falls?…. And not to mention $20 million just for a short street bridge, but we don’t have the time, talent, and money to build one or two “boutique” grocery stores in the food desert areas of our fine city, that could be run as quasi government/private sector cooperatives? When is local government going to start working for the people instead of the people working for a few around here? #73%MyAss

    ( and Woodstock adds: “Well, in all fairness, I don’t think the Bunker Ramp failure is any example of local talent…. Just saying”…. 🙂 )

  3. This makes public transit useless.

  4. D@ily Spin on April 28, 2023 at 9:06 pm said:

    The city will stop it because they can’t take credit for the idea. There’s no permits and zoning kickbacks. Nothing happens in this city without walking through city hall peeling off 100’s.

  5. The Guy From Guernsey on April 29, 2023 at 11:23 am said:

    50% of Sioux Falls sales tax revenue from restaurants!

    Further validating that the least used room in any apartment/home in Sioux Falls is the kitchen.

  6. The Guy From Guernsey on April 29, 2023 at 12:08 pm said:

    Centuries from now archeologists will be unearthing the ruins of civilization as it will be built over the next decade between Sioux Falls and Brandon.
    They will find a small, slightly used boutique butcher shop.
    And lots of relatively small home foundations absent a basement and seemingly devoid of a kitchen area. There are no kitchen appliances, nor tools used in preparation of food.
    Developers apparently decided that homeowners needed neither basements, nor kitchens.
    Consecutive catastrophes wiped out Sioux Falls civilization.
    One catastrophe, a(nother) triple tornado, struck those homes with slab on grade construction, killing the occupants who had no shelter. Next an unexplained phenomenon wiped out all the restaurants in town (except the multiple Hy-Vee Market Grilles, but survivors were not apparently able to find them, ‘cuz, well … what is a grocery store?).
    Driven to their homes and unable to feed themselves without the restaurants, the rest of the survivors perished of starvation.

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