Neighbors to lose a vital food store
The Grocery Outlet location at 1936 MacDade Blvd
To the Editor,
The Grocery Outlet store at Woodlyn Plaza on West MacDade Boulevard is scheduled for closing no later than January 3. I learned this quite by accident, overhearing a conversation while shopping at the store a few days ago. Customers and staff (including management) are devastated. The store is well-loved by its patrons, both for the variety and quality of products (including fresh produce) and for the consistently caring staff who leave no customer concern unaddressed. Many customers come to the store on foot several times a week. I talked with two random fellow shoppers, both of whom said, “I don’t know where I will go.”
This store (formerly called Amelia’s) is truly an oasis in a “food desert.” Large numbers of patrons walk with their shopping carts or make the journey in motorized wheelchairs or handicap assistance scooters from the nearby Delaware County public housing apartments and Kinder-Park-area townhouses, or from adjacent neighborhoods in Chester. There simply is NO COMPARABLE ALTERNATIVE STORE accessible to them. Customers who come by car, including me, will be hard pressed to find comparable service, quality, and prices at other nearby stores. Not only do patrons and staff face the closing of this store, but the closing of it at holiday time and during a pandemic. January 3 is not far off, and there is no guarantee that the store will continue to be completely stocked through the holidays.
Why is this happening? The store manager, deeply distressed about the closing, is understandably “not at liberty to discuss any details.” The store’s sales ratio is apparently not even on the low end compared with other Grocery Outlet stores. Corporate offices are located in Emeryville, California. I found the name of the Eastern regional officer on their website and sent a message expressing my concern (via LinkedIn, which the company uses for communication with the public). The overnight response was clearly a rubber-stamp reply to any inquiry they may receive about store closings. I wrote back: “Totally inadequate response!” — with more words to support my outrage — and pointed out their opportunity to think about “more than a financial bottom line.” No reply to date.
I urge my fellow citizens to join me in addressing this tragic and urgent situation. Let’s put our heads together and figure out the most effective and efficient way to reverse the store closing decision, or at least delay it and help to find a place for an equally accessible relocation. Please email me with your suggestions and offers of assistance: nancydaniel123@gmail.com.
Nancy Daniel
Wallingford
