© 2025 WEKU
NPR for North, Central and Eastern Kentucky
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Eastern Kentuckians hope Trump Administration will reduce costs for everyday goods

Mary Ann Moore and Isom IGA store manager Simon Christon each hope the Trump Administration will somehow reduce the cost of everything from gasoline and groceries to home interest rates.
John McGary
/
WEKU
Mary Ann Moore and Isom IGA store manager Simon Christon both hope the Trump Administration will somehow reduce the cost of everything from gasoline and groceries to home interest rates.

The Isom IGA offers most everything you find in a modern-day grocery, including a breakfast and lunch counter that attracts customers from across Letcher County and beyond. That’s where we find Mary Ann Moore, who lives in Isom and retired in April of 2023.

“Never dreamed I'd have to pay $6 for a dozen eggs in my life. I live in, yeah, I live in Eastern Kentucky, and, you know, or pray, pay $3 for a loaf of bread, or have to pay more for a gallon of milk than I pay for a gallon of gas, so it really has affected my whole family,” she said.

Moore says she hopes the Trump Administration will somehow lower prices, particularly for food and gasoline. She’s sharing a table with store manager and future owner Simon Christon, whose parents bought the grocery in 1998.

“We are a coal mining town, always have been. So ever since the coal mine shut down, you've seen a lot of struggle in our area, poverty. Lot of people living paycheck to paycheck, and it was already hard before the inflation has already went up. The rate that it's went up. You're seeing a lot of families struggle to get the food that they need to be able to provide and keep their families fed,” Christon said.

Christon says they try to help, with promotions and sometimes, free food for struggling families.

“To piggyback off of what Miss Mary Ann said, I'm praying that when this administration gets in there, that we can see a change, because I know when I even outside of groceries, when I purchased my first house, interest rates was at 4.1% and you have a kid or a young couple going to purchase their first home now, and you're looking at 7.3 7.5% interest rates.”

Christon says at this point, it almost seems it will take a miracle for things to get back to where people can live comfortably again.

On this weekday early afternoon, the aisles are busy, but not crowded. Glenda Cook lives in Whitesburg, the county seat.

“It's pretty high right now. It's just, yeah, it makes it rough getting by.”

“Have your shopping habits changed? I mean, are there things you don't buy anymore or find something else instead?”

“Yes.”

“What's an example?”

“Go for maybe a cheaper brand.”

“More generics?”

“Yes.”

“Do think things are going to get better with the incoming administration?”

“I don't know, but I hope so, so we'll see. Time will tell.”

An aisle away are Letcher countians Amber and Brian Adams.

“If it weren't for my husband having a good job, good paying job, it probably would affect it a lot more. It's -- it still sucks, though, for for everybody that can't afford to have good groceries.”

“Have your shopping and other purchasing habits changed?”

“Not really.”

“I definitely see the prices going up. I travel for work. I'm near a lot of cities, and it's just outrageous. Right now I'm up near Detroit, Michigan. Everything's higher up there than it is here. So like she said, I make good money, but it goes a lot faster now,” Brian Adams said.

“Do you have reason to believe the next administration will somehow cure this?”

“I don't know how much they can cure what's been done, but it's felt like they were cheaper the last term. So hopefully he can do something. But I really don't know.”

Trump won Letcher County by 64 points last November, but if there’s one thing most every voter here likely agrees on, it’s what Morgan wished for a few minutes earlier:

“I love America. I love American dream, and I want to see people be to be able to fulfill that dream. I have a daughter, have a grandson. I want them to be able to live in an America that they can buy their food, they can buy their home, they can do things.”

I’m John McGary in Isom.

** WEKU is working hard to be a leading source for public service, and fact-based journalism. Monthly supporters are the top funding source for this growing nonprofit news organization. Please join others in your community who support WEKU by making your donation.

John McGary is a Lexington native and Navy veteran with three decades of radio, television and newspaper experience.
WEKU depends on support from those who view and listen to our content. There's no paywall here. Please support WEKU with your donation.
Related Content