Last week, officials in Steubenville brought up the idea of a mobile food market to serve the community.

The Trumbull County Mobile Market Truck was among the participants in Juneteenth festivities in the city, and some officials thought a similar approach could help solve at least some of the food insecurity they are seeing in the area.

The trucks offers a variety of options, including fresh meats and produce, frozen food, and some canned goods, traveling to different communities where an actual brick-and-mortar grocery store may not be available, or where a large enough percentage of residents live far enough away from one.

Many of our communities could qualify – or at least be on the verge of being considered – as a food desert.

We have options in most of Hancock and Brooke counties when it comes to full-sized grocery stores, and a couple of the “big box” retail outlets offer groceries as well, but we all know there used to be much more of a selection.

At one point, Weirton was home to numerous grocery stores, supermarkets, quick stops and more. There were the bigger, regional and national chains, along with local, neighborhood stores. Today, we have one Kroger where we used to have two, Shop N Save, ALDI and Walmart offering a large enough selection to meet the needs of everyone. There are a couple of smaller “quick stop” style places, such as Marland Market to pick up a few staples.

Not everyone is able to get to them easily though.

Those of us of certain ages remember DeCaria’s, Canella’s, Mickey’s, the International Market, and many others, in addition to the major retailers. Several of them were within walking distance so we could pick up a few necessities and easily get them home.

Today, that’s not always an option for residents.

Some “Dollar” stores (and we have several of them) offer limited grocery items, but they often are canned, boxed, or other non-perishable options.

Seldom are there fresh meats, vegetables or dairy items.

We do have some options, and that’s great, but not nearly as much as we used to. That should be a concern for us as we look toward the future – one of many if we’re being honest.

The focus for most has been on attracting the big employers – the manufacturers which can create hundreds of jobs. I still believe those are on their way, although, as I’ve often said, they will take time to get here (probably more than we thought as the political climate continues to change).

Once they do get here, though, can we really say we are as ready as we could be?

Housing has been a big concern as governmental and development officials take stock in how many residential properties actually are in our area, as compared to how many people potentially could come here looking for work.

Support businesses also need to be considered, though.

The closures of Weirton Steel and Wheeling-Pitt saw a major loss of population in our region, but they also saw many of those long-standing, locally owned establishments (and even some major chains) close their doors.

I don’t know if it is premature to look into the potential for some of these service businesses being revived. I don’t even know if the market would still support them given changes in the economy over the years.

I would hate for us to be caught off guard and struggling to meet some need down the road, though. So, hopefully, those involved in all of these discussions and planning for our future are at least keeping some of these topics in mind.

(Howell, a resident of Colliers, is managing editor of The Weirton Daily Times, and can be contacted at chowell@weirtondailytimes.com or followed on Twitter/X @CHowellWDT)