MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WTVF) — A popular grocery store, abandoned in 2021, is creating bigger problems in one neighborhood.
Dr. Janet Colson, who teaches nutrition at MTSU, said she worries the closed-down Kroger along Middle Tennessee Boulevard in Murfreesboro created a ‘food desert’.
“It’s the low income people that are being left out,” explained Dr. Colson. “There’s not a grocery store that has a variety of healthy foods for a mile.”
“I remember how convenient it was, it was close,” said Rickey Haymer, who lives in the area. “[I] have to drive further, pay a little bit more, it’s an inconvenience now.”
For those who don’t have a car or another way to get around, that’s a close to 40-minute walk.
“They walk down this hazardous road called Braydenville Pike…or if they want to take an Uber, can you imagine the cost of an Uber?” asked Dr. Colson.
Possible ‘food desert’ in Murfreesboro may hurt low-income families (newschannel5.com)
I know the area and use to go shopping with the missus at that particular store back when we were dating. We figured we (I) could cook better and cheaper meals than the offering of many local restaurants and neither of us was into the “going out” every weekend.
And yes, the area is not affluent, but even though there is an inescapable truth that somehow the good doctor has failed to grasp: Barring natural disaster, any store remains open as long as the community surrounding it does business with it. If this Kroger store closed its doors after decades of being in that location, it very likely means the community started to go shopping at other stores which provide a better deal.
“But Miguel! Them poor people without cars! What are they going to do?”
There is this thing called Public Transportation. And the funny thing is that if you were not inconvenienced to walk to that Kroger, going to Walmart should not be a problem.
That is route MR (Mercury) of the local public transportation system. The red arrow indicates where the Kroger store used to be and the purple arrow points the location of the Walmart Supercenter. Is it as convenient as driving yourself? No, but beats walking by a very long margin, especially in inclement weather. And it is not that expensive either: A buck a trip unless you qualify for discounts or “buy” trips in bulk.
Again, is it a perfectly convenient solution? No, but there are no assurances in life. If you are too proud to take public transportation, then it is your issue, not mine or Kroger’s or anybody else’s. Then again, I believe this article is just the official “we feel for the community and want to help” website stuffer which increase tenfold during the Holidays. Tales of woe to make you feel guilty for celebrating Christmas and assorted Socialist shit like that.
Thats why I don’t listen to or read the propaganda put out by liberals. The voice of the “i hate everything “ crowd..
The other reason the store could have closed is, as we have seen elsewhere, loss of profitability due to theft. I don’t know the area so I couldn’t say whether that might be a factor.
As far as I know, there were no issues like that. There local Gun Show and other seasonal exhibits is held next door which leads me to think crime is not a big issue in that neighborhood.
In my neck of the woods, Kroger is NOT the economical grocery store. That would be Food Lion or WalMart. We also have Lidl and Aldi. Kroger is grouped with Harris Teeter and Whole Foods (which we don’t have), and is generally for those of the “upper” part of the middle class. Of course, there are also four Navy, one Air Force, and two Army Commisaries in the area. . . We USED to have Farm Fresh, but they left the area, although one of them stayed open with the same name withour the corporate infrastructure.
The “doctor” said it: “a variety of healthy foods” not affordable foods.
Healthy and affordable are not exclusive, unless you’re a progtard defending fudge rounds. In the PNW we have Winco which is employee owned and significantly cheaper than Safeway Wal-Mart and Kroger brands for lots of items. You can get good produce, meats and staples and eat healthy and cheap.
In my area Kroger is Fred Meyer and Food 4 Less, which responded to Winco by rebranding as a local product market. It’s also worth noting that the two Walgreens in town have none of the extra security found on shelves in big cities like Chicago or San Francisco because we don’t have endemic shoplifting.
Kroger stores come in four or five types: value, moderate, higher, oddball, and marketplace. The first three are about the variety, item selection, and aggressiveness of price competition. Marketplace stores are closer to Walmarts than just a grocery store.
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I only know of one oddball, and it’s near me. A higher-priced area, so lots of higher-end items and a bit of general merchandise. It’s not quite a marketplace. It was Kroger’s first store to hit a million in sales in a week.