Dollar General Market opens in Snow Shoe. How will it help the food desert?

In 2020, Hall’s Market in Snow Shoe suffered a store-closing electrical fire, leaving residents in the area without a store that sold fresh food. Now, five years later, a new store has arrived on the Mountaintop that will help alleviate that need.

A Dollar General Market opened at 472 E. Sycamore Road last week between Sweet Dreams Ice Cream Shop and the Phillips 66 gas station, less than a mile off Snow Shoe’s Interstate 80 exit. It’s the first store of its kind in Centre County.

It offers a variety of goods otherwise not sold at regular Dollar Generals, including fresh produce and meat, which are things that Mountaintop residents haven’t been able to buy in the area since Hall’s closed.

The market has replaced the Mountaintop’s now-closed Dollar General, formerly located at 644 E. Sycamore Road.

In addition to the fresh food, the market will also carry the same goods sold at its former location, including frozen and processed foods, over-the-counter medicine, pet supplies and other household merchandise.

State Rep. Paul Takac, D-College Township, is excited that the Dollar General Market has opened and said it will “help fill a significant need.”

“Supporting more retail and grocery options in Snow Shoe has long been a top priority of mine, and I look forward to working with DG Market and others to get more fresh, nutritious food options to folks on the Mountaintop,” he said in a written statement.

Takac isn’t the only one who’s been concerned about Snow Shoe being a food desert, which is defined as a community that has limited access to affordable and nutritious foods. Some Mountaintop residents spoke with the CDT in February about the difficulties over the past half-decade to get fresh food, and on how the new market could help solve that problem.

“It’s really frustrating when you’re sitting at home and realize that you need a fruit, vegetable or meat for something, but you have to drive at least 20 minutes to get it,” resident Dylan Zink said.

Prior to the market’s opening, Kylertown’s Mt. View Market Place, Bellefonte’s Weis Market and the Giant on Benner Pike were the three closest fresh food-selling grocery stores to Snow Shoe Borough, with each store being located between 15 and 21 miles from the borough, respectively.

Getting to any of those stores from the borough requires at least a 15-minute drive.

“Getting the new market is nice, and while I do think that it’ll help people up here, that’s certainly not all that we need,” longtime Snow Shoe resident Lori Facer told the CDT in February. “A bank, a medical center, some restaurants, a hardware store — we need it all, and then some. ... Here’s to hoping that we’ll get some more businesses that want to bring their services here too. The good people of this area need it, and deserve it.”

The market’s official grand opening will be held at 8 a.m. Saturday, May 17. The first 50 customers at the grand opening will each receive a $10 gift card, with the first 100 customers each receiving a free tote bag, according to a press release.

The new store is open seven days a week, from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.