Dorchester Times: Business Spotlight: Dorchester Grocery

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Business Spotlight: Dorchester Grocery

Under new ownership, the Dorchester Grocery is getting great reviews. Customers are reporting the new owners provide excellent customer service, competitive pricing and a good variety for a small-town store. The store's meats are given especially high marks.

Dorchester residents should be thankful. In a recent Lincoln Journal Star article, the director of the Nebraska Grocery Industry Association said the number of independently owned grocery stores in Nebraska has dropped from 1,200 to about 600 over the past 15 years. Doug Cunningham, director of the Hometown Merchants Association of Nebraska, said small businesses need each other, and that a community’s school, its bank and its grocery store are particularly important. “If you don’t have a minimum of those things, it’s pretty hard to compete with other communities to bring economic development into your community,” he said. We could not agree more. Let's support our hometown merchants and thank them for the service they provide.

8 comments:

AnonymousApril 25, 2007 at 8:28 AM
The Bruhas have made the Dorchester Grocery the best its been since the days of Orv's
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AnonymousApril 25, 2007 at 11:59 AM
I, for one, appreciate having a grorcery store in town. Especially with gas at $3!
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AnonymousApril 25, 2007 at 7:53 PM
I would like to thank the Bruhas for doing a wonderful job at keeping the Dorchester Grocery alive and well. Keep up the great work! We do appreciate your efforts.
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AnonymousApril 26, 2007 at 10:31 AM
I would like to thank brandon and Shelena Bruha for there great upkeep of the grocery store. One day i was trying to get my grocerys out to my car and it was slick and the little boy brandon came and helped me to my car. I think the Bruha's have changed the quality of the store! I see a bright future ahead for the bruha's!!!
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Village DwellerApril 27, 2007 at 8:44 AM
We agree with the previous sentiment, albeit rather blunt.

Remember our comments about the need for the town board to have tighter control on building permits? We believe the same is true regarding the accumulation of junk in yards.

In order to thrive, a community must have minimum standards that ensure a high quality of life for ALL its residents. A handful of individuals cannot be allowed to ruin things for the majority.

The Dorchester Times will actively support all candidates for town board who pledge to be aggressive in improving Dorchester's quality of life through their action and vision.
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AnonymousMay 2, 2007 at 8:39 PM
The grocery is a must have for every community. Thank you for keeping the store open.
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AnonymousMay 9, 2007 at 12:01 PM
If we want the store to stay open, we all need to do our part by shopping there whenever possible.
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AnonymousMay 11, 2007 at 2:36 PM
I have noticed that the quality of the store is a lot better when Brandon and Shelena are there. They are great at being nice and helpful to cutomers like me and my boyfriend.
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Dorchester: A Good Little Family Town

Dorchester, Nebraska (est. population 630) is located in northern Saline county. Close in proximity to Interstate 80, Dorchester is only 25 minutes from the state capital of Lincoln (est. population 250,000) and about 55 minutes from Omaha (metro population 725,000).

Dorchester's median resident age is 37 years. In 2005, Dorchester had a median family income of approximately $35,600. The median house value was about $63,000. About 95 percent of Dorchester residents commute to work via Interstate and highways.

The village has a quality public school, which received a $4.1 million expansion and modernization in 2008; it offers a small classrooms and individualized attention. Total enrollment of grades K-12 is around 230-250 students.

Ancestries of the Dorchester area are primarily German (42.4%), Czech (24.9%), Irish (12.5%), English (5.4%), and Dutch (4.9%).

Dorchester Historical Facts

* On July 4, 1871, the railroad reached Dorchester.
* Incorporated in 1881, Dorchester's population grew from 200 to 500 by 1882.
* In 1882, Dorchester had 90 buildings, 35 of which were businesses or public facilities. Brick buildings lined both sides of Washington Avenue for two blocks.
* Dorchester's longest-running newspaper was The Dorchester Star, which was published until the late 1940s.
* By 1889, Dorchester's population is said to have reached 800, while the town housed an opera house, a two-story brick schoolhouse with a bell tower, and four churches.
* By the 1910s, Dorchester had electricity, a water tower and a fire department.
* Dorchester's main arteries, Highways 6 and 33, were graveled in the 1940s.
* Dorchester's first irrigation well was drilled on Chris Weber's farm and rural electrification was finished following WWII.

A Village with History

Dorchester is one of the "alphabet towns" on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad line built west from Lincoln. The town site was selected for its pleasant location in the northern part of Saline County, about eight miles west of Crete. This situation is an attractive one, being on the level prairie land, midway between the West Blue River and Turkey Creek. The first named stream is three miles north, and the latter about the same distance south from the town. Dorchester was platted in 1870 and incorporated in 1881. The name "Dorchester" came from either for a suburb of Boston by that name or a town in England. No one is sure. Two of the very first settlers were James Seely and Edward McIntyre, who both made Dorchester their permanent home.

Dorchester: In The Beginning

Here is a look at Dorchester around 1890, less than a decade after its official incorporation, as documented by Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska:
* POPULATION: "About 300, and is made up of a substantial and progressive class of citizens, who are moral and industrious. ... The town grew but very little until the year 1879, for the reason that Pleasant Hill, on Turkey Creek, a short distance south, was the county seat and naturally drew a trade for quite a large scope of country."
* BUSINESS: "The business and professional interests of the town are represented by three general merchandise stores, two drug, one grocery, one furniture, two hardware, and two millinery stores, one bank, two restaurants, two hotels, three livery stables, a post office, one newspaper office, two elevators, two lumber yards, two coal yards, two blacksmith shops, two lawyers and four physicians."
* SCHOOL: "The schoolhouse is a good one. The schoolhouse was built in 1872, since which time the public schools have been continually kept up. The present schoolhouse is 24' x 40' in size, two stories high. The school is graded and consists of three departments. The house is found too small, and arrangements will soon be made to increase its size."
* CHURCHES: "There are three substantial churches."
* HOMES: "The residence portion of the village is made up of neat houses of different styles of architecture, but none of them very large."
* NEWSPAPER: "The Dorchester Star, which was established August 21, 1881, by H. C. Bittenbender, who edited it until January 19, 1882, when he sold it to Ryerson & Bullock, the present proprietors. The Star is a bright weekly paper, five-column quarto, in size, and is Republican in politics."