Cedar Rapids neighborhood grocery store announces closure

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — As he often does, Ben Anderson made a stop Wednesday at his neighborhood grocery store, but this time with a heavy heart.

Matthew 25, the nonprofit operating Cultivate Hope Corner Store, announced Sept. 30, 2026, that it will be closing its doors on Dec. 18.

“I’ve been coming here since it opened,” said Anderson, of the store’s launch in April 2022. “I stop almost every day on my way home from work.”

The location, at 604 Ellis Blvd. NW, is close to his home, Anderson noted, as he shopped for red potatoes, garlic, onions and other items at the small neighborhood store.

Along with the variety of fresh produce and other groceries he regularly buys, the 39-year-old said he will miss chatting with the store employees, who he has come to know over the past four years.

“It feels like you’re a part of the community when you’re here,” Anderson said.

The announcement comes as the First Avenue Hy-Vee in northeast Cedar Rapids has been closed for more than two years, with no signs of a replacement.

Related: Demonstrators call for boycott of Hy-Vee

Matthew 25 leaders cited an unsustainable financial model in making the decision to close.

“Our staff, volunteers, and supporters worked incredibly hard to create the Corner Store and provide the best experience we could for our guests, but ultimately the model wasn’t financially sustainable,” Courtney Ball, co-founder and executive director of Matthew 25, said in a press release. “It’s really hard to close down something we all cared so much about. But this isn’t the end of the story.”

“We’re here for the long haul,” Ball continued. “The Corner Store transformed this corner from what it was before. We still own the property, and we will find another use for it that serves the neighborhood. “

Even with strong community support and careful management, an evaluation found that the economics
of operating a small-format grocery store are not financially sustainable, the group stated, adding that Matthew 25 will continue serving the Northwest neighborhood through its four pillars of food, housing, education, and community building — including the Cultivate Hope Urban Farm, two blocks from the store, and Groundswell, Iowa’s only pay-it-forward Cafe, both part of Matthew 25’s local food programming.

The Corner Store marked a return to the brick building’s roots, a century after it opened around 1920 as a grocery store owned by William and Ida Hosmer. It later began serving as the Ellis Boulevard Grocery & Market, operated by immigrant Thomas Shaheen and his wife, Sophia, starting in 1933. After Thomas Shaheen’s death, their children operated the store.

Douglas and Mamie Shaheen, who met at the Ellis Boulevard Grocery as eighth-graders and married after Douglas served in World War II, owned and operated Shaheen Sundries, a grocery store and food counter at the site, according to an account of the family’s history.

It later housed a variety of businesses, including a bar in more recent history.

The Corner Store transformed a once high-crime corner into a neighborhood asset and a walkable source of fresh, healthy food, Ball noted, and over nearly five years, offered affordable groceries and free produce while creating a welcoming place for neighbors to connect and experience Matthew 25’s pay-it-forward mission.

As Corner Store operations wind down ahead of the December closing, Matthew 25 will begin developing plans for the building’s next use.

Those interested in taking part in the conversation can contact the organization at info@matthew-25.org.

“You’ve made our part of the world a better place,” Ball said of the customers, donors, volunteers and staff. “We’re grateful for everything this community built with us at the Corner Store, and we look forward to continuing that work together in the neighborhood for years to come.”

More: See photos from the store’s opening in 2022 and more from September 2026, below.