We need more grocery stores

This map shows the area grocery stores and a one mile radius around them.

See that one green dot on the right side of the map? That’s the Big Apple Supermarket on Richmond Highway. That red dot is King’s Supermarket, a smaller neighborhood grocery still closed almost a year after a devastating fire.

Big Apple is the only grocery store from Manchester to the Chesterfield line. Even with King’s set to reopen “soon”, that still leaves much of the city south of Hull Street underserved.

There used to be a Safeway at 2660 Hull Street, the first Ukrop’s was at 3111 Hull Street. Both Walmart Neighborhood Market and Aldi have modern smaller footprint full-service grocery stores in the region and would be a great fit for the area. Food Lion, who provide crucial food access with their Jahnke and Hull locations, would seem to be the best bet.

What would it take to get another grocery store or two in Manchester or along Richmond Highway? Conventional wisdom says more people with more income. It doesn’t feel like trying to gentrify our way to more grocery stores is the track we should lean into.