![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/HMFG5F6PLBGCBKA56UKEU4QFJE.jpg\")
The federal government shutdown reached 36 days, becoming the longest in U.S. history, as Senate lawmakers remain gridlocked on a funding deal.(KCTV5\/Grace Smith)<\/p>\nKANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – The federal government shutdown reached 36 days, becoming the longest in U.S. history, as Senate lawmakers remain gridlocked on a funding deal.<\/p>\n
Missouri plans to issue partial SNAP benefits, according to a statement announced by Missouri\u2019s Department of Social Services. The department said it hopes the funding helps put food on the table for families.<\/p>\n
Thousands in the region are still waiting for benefits, and the shortage is affecting local grocery stores.<\/p>\n
Local stores see immediate impact<\/p>\n
Chris Kavadas, manager of Happy Foods in Kansas City, said roughly 60% of his shoppers use SNAP benefits.<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir buying habits is completely different because now they\u2019re buying just the things they have to have. They\u2019re buying a lot less,\u201d Kavadas said.<\/p>\n
Four days into November, the store is down $14,000 compared to the same time last month.<\/p>\n
The federal government shutdown reached 36 days, becoming the longest in U.S. history, as Senate lawmakers remain gridlocked on a funding deal.(KCTV5\/Grace Smith)<\/p>\n
\u201cIt not only hurts the people that are getting the food stamps, it hurts our employees. Because as business goes down, you\u2019ve got to cut back on hours,\u201d Kavadas said.<\/p>\n
Preparing for the Holidays<\/p>\n
The timing creates additional strain as the grocery store is trying to buy for the Holidays.<\/p>\n
\u201cNormally, we would be buying heavy, making a lot of big displays. But that\u2019s the kind of stuff that you buy for the holiday. So, if you buy it and they don\u2019t have the money, you\u2019re stuck,\u201d Kavadas said.<\/p>\n
Shopper Ardene said she\u2019s only shopping for deals right now.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I can afford it. If I can\u2019t, I will leave it,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s incredibly hard right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Store manager considers options<\/p>\n
Kavadas said the store plans to re-evaluate after Thanksgiving. He said every store has a cushion, but it will only last so long.<\/p>\n
He said he doesn\u2019t want to raise prices or cut jobs. He\u2019s also considering enhancing security as shoplifting increases during hard times.<\/p>\n
\u201cSupport the local grocer as much as you can because without him, you\u2019re in trouble, everybody is in trouble,\u201d Kavadas said.<\/p>\n
In his 40 years of experience, Kavadas said he has never experienced anything like this.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2025 KCTV. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – The federal government shutdown reached 36 days, becoming the longest in U.S. history, as Senate lawmakers remain gridlocked on a funding deal. Missouri plans to issue partial SNAP benefits, according to a statement announced by Missouri\u2019s Department of Social Services. The department said it hopes the funding helps put food<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26467,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[23509,10395,23510,5287,2202,23507,587,1226,252,19268,3557,4059,1530,23511,3642,3640,3638,3641,3639,23508,18567,432,2975,1683],"class_list":["post-26466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-missouri","tag-23509","tag-as","tag-becomes","tag-benefits","tag-day","tag-dwindle","tag-government","tag-grocery","tag-history","tag-impacts","tag-in","tag-issues","tag-local","tag-longest","tag-missouri","tag-missouri-dining","tag-missouri-food","tag-missouri-grocery-stores","tag-missouri-restaurants","tag-partial","tag-shutdown","tag-snap","tag-stores","tag-u-s"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@dc\/117317818411488756","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26466\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}