Most people in North Texas take the grocery stories for granted. But that is not the case in one Southeast Dallas neighborhood, which was a food desert with shops more than five miles away when the Save U More opened in 2016.
This store near the corner of Simpson Stuart Road and Bonnie View Road was closed on New Year’s Day.
People who shopped there on the last day had very little left to buy over.
“You can see the entire front of the store to the back of the store and through the shelves,” Pearl Smith said.
In the months leading up to Friday, some neighbors said poor supplies led to the store’s decline.
City Councilman Tennell Atkins, who represents the area, fought for years to find a developer willing to open a store in the food desert.
“We need to make sure this community has fresh vegetables, fresh fruit and fresh meat,” he said.
There was a great offer in 2019 when Rodney Wiggins, who ran the store at the time, said it was a challenging place.
‘A lot of people are afraid to come to this area. This area needs to be expanded, ”Wiggins said.
There have been crime problems on that corner in the past.
But there are also hungry people in apartments and single-family homes in the area. Paul Quinn College is right down the street.
The city of Dallas has awarded a $ 2.9 million grant to the developer to renovate a dilapidated old mall and open the grocery store. In return, the developer had to keep a store available for ten years.
“He’s been five years. He said yesterday he was committed to being here for 10 years. “He needs time to restructure, to come up with a different kind of concept,” Atkins said.
In August, a group of critics staged a protest outside the store, opposing any further city spending.
“Where did all the money go and when did the city do business to save grocery stores and failed businesses,” critic Eric Williams said that day.
On Friday, Atkins would not rule out additional city spending.
“I think all options are on the table,” Atkins said. “The city always invests in the community. I do not think the city is going to stop investing in the community. ”
Atkins said the neighborhood needs a grocery store and he will support getting it reopened.
“It’s going to be great. It’s going to be really great,” Pearl Smith said.
She leaves the store for a longer ride Friday and says she does not like getting food anywhere else.
Some neighbors in surrounding apartments say they will rely on convenience stores and a dollar store that is walking distance from the corner. Those stores deliver milk and packaged items, but not fresh food and full service.