A Maryland grocery store now makes an official closure in Baltimore, leaving the surrounding community without its only source of produce.
The store at 4624 Edmondson Ave is shutting after decades, and some locals are concerned about the hole it will leave behind.
Local officials have been working to keep the store open for years, according to The Baltimore Banner.
That’s because it’s the only full-scale grocery store within a mile of Edmondson Village, a neighborhood in the west of the city.
In Baltimore, that could qualify it as an official “healthy food priority area,” better known as a “food desert”.
Around 21% of the neighborhood lives below the poverty line, and a quarter of households do not have a vehicle.
Monique Washington, the neighborhood’s Community Association President, expressed concern with the Banner.
“You have seniors that rely on the store — a lot of them don’t drive, they don’t have family that will get them there,” she told the local outlet.
“What are they supposed to do?”
Another Giant location is located nearby.
It’s at 4622 Wilkens Avenue, three miles to the south of the shutting location.
That is about a 10 minute drive away from the closing store.
However, thanks to limited bus routes, it takes around an hour to get from Edmondson to the new Giant.
It takes a similar amount of time to walk there.
However, there is a Safeway grocery outlet that’s much more easily accessible.
While it’s a similar 7 minute drive and 50 minute walk from the neighborhood, it’s more convenient to the bus lines, reports The-Sun.
It’s a roughly 15 minute bus ride as a result, though travel times can vary widely.
There’s also a large grocer called Shoppers about a 10 minute bus ride away.
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Another massive retailer is now closing due to crime despite its location being a community staple for several years.
Rampant theft has led Walgreens to permanently close one of its major locations at the White Oak Shopping Center in Maryland, reports The-Sun.
Staff and shoppers told ABC affiliate WJLA-TV that the store was closed due to high rates of theft and crime.
Mobile security cameras were recently added by police in the parking lot around stores in the shopping center.
A source also told WJLA-TV that the shopping center’s management company had to fire their security company and hire a new one.
Just last year, there was an armed robbery inside Walgreens, resulting in a man and a woman taking an unknown amount of money and products.
Robberies have become a major problem in the area as stores get ransacked by violent thieves.
A resident told the outlet she was too scared to leave her car in the shopping center’s parking lot.
She says she saw another woman get assaulted and robbed.
“You can simply be walking and they take your purse and start running and they leave you with nothing,” said Sarah Rodriguez.
“That’s why when I’m here before I get out of my car I always look around first.”
Walgreens corporate execs announced earlier this year that about 150 stores will be closed throughout the US.
This would reduce the company’s corporate staff by about 10%, resulting in over 500 positions being eliminated.
News of a replacement for the store in the White Oak Shopping Center hasn’t been announced.
However, the center has been struggling to replace the Sears location that has sat vacant for over three years.
“Yeah, it’s not good, because everyone is complaining,” said resident Kokou Eafbo.
“This is the only pharmacy we have in this area and suddenly they close, we don’t understand.”
The shopping center had once been a thriving area full of shops in Montgomery County, reports The US Sun.
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