Frank Timberlake owns a grocery store in a small North Carolina town.

It's called Rich Square Market.

Our colleague Val Boraline went to visit him there this week.

We last spoke to Frank almost two years ago when the pandemic first started, just as he

was trying to figure out how to adapt.

These days, things are a little different.

But as the pandemic dies down, Frank, like the rest of the country, has a new problem

to reckon with.

The highest inflation in 40 years.

The Federal Reserve said today it would raise interest rates to try and cool off the

economy and help bring prices down.

But it will take a long time before that rate increase will make any difference to Frank's

customers.

And for Frank, inflation has made running his business much more difficult.

Welcome to the journal, our show about money, business and power.

I'm Ryan Knutson.

It's Wednesday, March 16th.

Coming up on the show, how a rural grocery store and its customers are trying to survive

inflation.

In 1805, Tristan B. Freeman held an auction of linens and cutlery in his Philadelphia

shop, unaware this sale would be the first of many for centuries to come.

Today, Freeman's is an international presence with specialists in New York City and nationwide,

...