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reporter: bonnie seymour grew up in lincoln, missouri. what was it like? to realize that what you once saw as thriving was gone? disappointing. very saddened. reporter: there are less than 700 living here now. 100 years ago the place was booming. today, layton is suffering the fate of many rural communities. squeezed by bigger towns with box stores. then about a decade ago the local grocery store closed and many people stopped going into town at all. reporter: but here at the layton school, the kids and teachers decided their town would not become another statistic. bonnie and mary jane manley, teachers, teamed up with their students to convince the school to do something educational and amazing. to turn the town s old bank building into a new grocery store. so was born the bulldog express, named after the school mascot. high schoolers do everything it takes to run the small business. taking care of the store, the inventory, and the cash. the economic lessons come quickly. wh ....
Taught you? what does it take to make jobs? you can t find a money tree and expect a business to come out of it. you have to actually look into it and plan it. reporter: the bulldog express stocks all the essentials folks need especially seniors who otherwise have to drive to the next town to get supplies. if you are a senior citizen and you are not able to drive, it s pretty much walking distance from anywhere in town. reporter: three years on the store is about break-even. and there s a deli in the works, along with other plans to bring downtown alive. you quickly see the bulldog express is about more than food. what do you think people can learn from what s going on here in leighton? how we have brought our community together. how we brought pride into our town. reporter: the kids and their teachers started the bulldog express, but the entire community is keeping it going in ways that go far beyond shopping. ....