On the morning of Friday, July 3, 2026, Jon VanDamme stood in the old union hall on Aurora's Main Street and cut a ribbon in front of two checkout lanes and rows of empty shelves. His first grocery job had been at Zup's, right here in Aurora. After that he spent years in the business in the Fargo-Moorhead area, then the last 25 in Glencoe. Now he had come back as interim general manager of the store meant to replace it.
At the ceremony, VanDamme said the store could be running in as little as two months, and that it could take longer, since a lot of work was still left. As of this writing, the Main Street Market website doesn't list store hours. The best way to check whether the doors are open is to call or stop by 315 N Main Street.
The empty shelves made the headlines. Who owns the store matters more over time. Main Street Market Cooperative is owned by the people who buy shares in it, and the board has said plainly that a grocery store in a town Aurora's size only lasts if it's run with discipline. Every past attempt since 2016 was a plan by outside owners or developers. This one depends on the town itself.
Ten Years of "Can We Get Our Grocery Store Back?"
Mayor Doug Gregor summed up what residents had been saying all along: "Can we get our grocery store back?" Former Mayor Al Hodnik told the ribbon-cutting crowd that Aurora once had six grocery stores. Here's how the town went from six to none, and how long the wait lasted:
- 2001. LTV Steel Mining Co. closed and 1,400 people lost their jobs. The Mesabi Tribune reports the East Range never fully bounced back.
- 2015. Mesabi Nugget closed, another blow to the local economy.
- January 2016. Zup's Food Market in Aurora closed. According to a 2020 Duluth News Tribune report, Zup's had served the town for about 40 years.
- October 2020. East Range Market LLC, owner of Nashwauk Market, announced plans for an Aurora store in the former steelworkers' union hall, as Hometown Focus reported. Fox 21 reported that shoppers would be able to start in summer 2021. That store never opened.
- The next plan. Developers Anthony Dinh and Johan Winkelaar described a full-service grocery with a deli and a butcher in the same building. Construction had started, but the legal agreements and financing weren't settled yet. Winkelaar said they hoped to open "later this year or early in 2026."
- July 3, 2026. The ribbon was cut at Aurora Main Street Market Cooperative.
Through all of it, people drove out of town for groceries. "Even though people have had to drive into places like Biwabik, we missed having a store here with all the fresh fruits and meats," said Mary Mulari, then chair of the Aurora HRA. At the ribbon-cutting, St. Louis County Commissioner Paul McDonald called Aurora a food desert. He added that the grocery store is also where neighbors run into each other, because that's where everyone goes.
A Building the Town Held Onto for Twenty Years
The store is in the former United Steelworkers Local 4108 union hall. Aurora's Housing and Redevelopment Authority had owned and kept up that building for more than 20 years, hoping a business would eventually move in.
The building's history fits the store's setup. A hall built for a union local now houses a business owned by its members. Mayor Gregor made the same point at the ceremony:
"The cooperative form of governing is so beautifully suited for a community-committed and community-oriented business. It will be interesting to see that evolve too."
He also praised the renovation as "a beautiful transformation of an old building."
The Person Who Paid for It Grew Up Here
HRA Chair Mary Lockwood named Tahn Dinh as the project's primary funder. She said Dinh's family came to Aurora. "He grew up here and then moved to California, made his money and came back and invested it in this community," Lockwood said. Norma Jean Jofs, who is Chamber president and chair of the cooperative, said Dinh wanted to give back to the community that had given so much to his mother and his family. According to the mayor, Dinh offered to finance the store, and his team "produced a remarkable product." No dollar amount has been reported.
Getting a building finished and paid for is one thing. Keeping a store running year after year is another, and that part now falls to the cooperative.
How the Shares Actually Work
The co-op offers two kinds of shares. Here's how the Become an Owner page and Jofs's comments at the ribbon-cutting describe them:
| Class A membership | Class C investment | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | $100, one time | $500 per share |
| Vote | One member, one vote | Non-voting |
| What comes back | Each purchase is logged to your member number, and you get a percentage back as a credit each year | Dividends based on what the market earns, paid only if and when the board declares them |
| Guarantee | Not described as an investment | Dividends aren't guaranteed, and the co-op says investors could lose some or all of what they put in |
| Payment | $100 up front, $50 now and $50 within 90 days, or $10 a month for 10 months | Offered only under the cooperative's offering and disclosure documents |
Class A is the share that makes someone an owner. Class C is for people who want to put extra money behind the store. The yearly credit on Class A is based on how much a member shops there, so the benefit grows with use and shrinks if a member drives to Biwabik instead. Class C dividends work differently. They depend on whether the store makes money and on what the board decides. The co-op asks anyone thinking about Class C shares to request its offering and disclosure documents first. The bylaws and application forms are posted on the same page for anyone who wants the details.
To join, you print or pick up a form, sign it, and either mail it with a check, pay online, or bring it to the register at 315 N Main Street, where staff will handle it.
Who Answers to the Owners
In a letter to shareholders, Jofs lays out how responsibility is split. The board sets the store's overall direction, oversees its finances, and approves the annual budget. The general manager runs the store day to day, which means keeping the shelves stocked and the butcher case full, managing staff, setting hours, and setting prices, and reports to the board.
According to the co-op's site, the board includes:
- Norma Jean Jofs, chair
- James Kramer, vice chair
- DuWayne "Pickle" Peterson, treasurer
- Becky Lammi, director
- Zac Edwards, director
The letter sets a modest goal for the first year: "dependable hours, fair prices, and quality meat cut in house, delivered by a business that is managed carefully and lives within its means." It continues, "A grocery store in a town this size lasts only when it is run with discipline, and that is the standard the board has set."
What Shoppers Can Expect Inside
From what's been said and shown publicly so far, the store is a grocery and butcher shop with meat cut in house. It will have a deli area and seating where people can eat, along with the two checkout lanes in the July photos. Hours, prices, and what local products will be on the shelves are decisions for the general manager, and none of them have been posted yet.
"Everyone's looking forward to the day when food's on the shelf," Gregor said in July. Main Street Market Cooperative will publish its hours once the store is ready, and the place to look is the co-op's own site at mainstreetmarketmn.com.
Main Street businesses like this one shape what life in Aurora feels like day to day, and they're part of what Chessica Reichert-Olson pays attention to when she talks with East Range owners about their homes. If you're curious how the town's changes affect your own place, Chessica Olson can walk you through it, starting with the "Get Your Instant Home Valuation" tool on her site.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
