The Save A Lot grocery store at Airport Highway and Western Avenue in South Toledo closes Saturday, Nov. 14, at 8 p.m., leaving nearby residents with fewer convenient options for fresh food. The closure raises food-access concerns for a South Toledo neighborhood that already has limited grocery options.

Jose Garcia, who cares for his mother on Emory Street, right next to the store, has shopped there for years. “Yeah, there’s nothing around for miles. You know, you got Walmart on Glendale, nothing headed towards East, nothing towards downtown,” Garcia said. The closest grocery options are the Broadway Food Center, about a two-mile drive, and the Walmart on Glendale Avenue, about three miles away — a difficult trip for neighbors like Garcia, who does not have a car and cares for an elderly parent who uses a power chair.

Why the store is closing is still not clear. The store manager did not know, and the station said it was waiting to hear back from a company spokesperson. About a dozen employees are now looking for new jobs after learning of the closure on Monday. City Councilwoman Dr. Brittany Jones, who said she did not know about the closure until she was told, raised concerns about affordability, getting around the store, and hauling groceries home, and said she hopes the building becomes another supermarket, even if it is not a big-box brand.

Source: WTOL 11

Featured image: Tessa Bury, CC BY, via Wikimedia Commons.