Some stores have thin profit margins as it is, and could be further exacerbated by customers not shopping there if they don’t have SNAP benefits.
WINSTED, Minn. — The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday to keep full Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) payments frozen with the government shutdown potentially nearing an end.
A flurry of lower court rulings over the weekend meant some states were left waiting while others, like Wisconsin and Minnesota, got the aid.
But it’s not just people caught in the middle – some small-town, independent grocery stores are being impacted by the decisions.
University of Minnesota research shows some stores have thin profit margins as it is, and could be further exacerbated by customers not shopping there if they don’t have SNAP benefits.
“We were just kind of curious how that would affect our business since a lot of people do rely on those benefits,” said Jordan Kuck, whose family owns Glenn’s Supervalu in Winsted, Minnesota.
His parents bought the grocery store more than 30 years ago and says SNAP recipients make up 10% of its sales.
Kuck says the store is otherwise profitable due to the manufacturing industry and other jobs in the area, which is about 45 miles west of the Twin Cities.
Federal data shows nearly 2,000 people in McLeod County alone are SNAP recipients.
“We know most of our customers by name and kind of what they’re going through, and if they need help, they know we’re always here to help them out,” said Kuck.
The University of Minnesota says there are only 250 rural grocery stores like Glenn’s Supervalu across the state. A survey from 2020 found that half were concerned then about closing – inflation, a sales slump and the risk of losing some SNAP customers are only making it worse.
Except over the weekend and amid legal challenges, Minnesota started issuing the benefits.
“We did hear some talk that they loaded the cards and then we did see a bit of a spike in sales there,” said Kuck.
On Thursday, a federal court order rejected the Trump administration’s decision to only partially cover SNAP benefits for November and ordered that they be delivered in full by Friday.
Then on Friday, the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) issued full November SNAP benefits. According to DCYF, Minnesotans started seeing those on their EBT cards as early as Saturday.
DCYF said those payments were issued based on “clear guidance” they received from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) around noon on Friday.
Then Friday night, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson temporarily paused the lower court’s order to pay in full to give an appeals court more time to review the case.
Saturday night, the USDA sent a memo saying states “must immediately undo any steps taken to issue full SNAP benefits for November 2025.”
In the meantime, Kuck says he’ll continue to serve his community while the confusion continues in Washington, D.C.
“That’s what we do,” said Kuck. “That’s the whole magic behind family-owned.”