Thousands of Colorado families who rely on SNAP benefits are feeling the impact of the government shutdown, along with local businesses.
AURORA, Colo. — Coloradans who rely on SNAP benefits to put food on the table are having to make tough choices this month as uncertainty from the government shutdown delays when those benefits will arrive and how much they’ll be for.
Inside the Ahorra Mucho grocery store in Aurora, store managers say sales haven’t dropped significantly since benefits lapsed on Saturday, but next door at La Plaza, vendors are beginning to see the impact.
“It’s disposable income,” Doug McMurrain said. “Are you going to buy a cowboy hat? Or are you going to buy ground beef to put on the table for your kids and your family to eat? You buy the food.”
McMurrain owns La Plaza, as well as the property that houses Ahorra Mucho, which just opened in October.
He says sales in the vendor section of La Plaza are down 15 to 20% since the benefits lapsed. Grocery sales have remained steady, he said, as customers concentrate their budgets on food.
“So, that’s good news,” McMurrain said. “At the same time, you know, the cowboy hats aren’t selling like they should be because people are using that money to buy food for their families.”
La Plaza and Ahorra Mucho cater primarily to Hispanic families, but McMurrain said the impact is widespread.
“It has a chilling effect, and it doesn’t matter whether you’re Hispanic, Black, White, purple, polka dot, it doesn’t matter,” he said.
He added that the combined pressures of paused benefits, tariffs and high interest rates are piling up on families and small businesses.
“If it were just the SNAP benefits, that’s one thing. If it were just the tariffs, that’s another. If it were just high interest rates, but when you add all this on top of each other and the division that’s in our country, it’s not good,” he said.
Around 600,000 Coloradans rely on SNAP benefits. The federal government has agreed to use contingency funds to cover about half of benefits this month, but officials have not said when electronic benefit cards will be reloaded or what the exact amounts will be. The process of loading funds often takes states a week or more, leaving families uncertain and local merchants bracing for continued slow business.
“It’s not good, but we’re going to weather it,” McMurrain said. “We’ll survive and just hope people come.”
