By Gretchen Millich, WKAR News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkar/local-wkar-937648.mp3
Lansing, MI – Residents of the Colonial Village neighborhood on Lansing's south side were shocked last week, when the local L&L Food Center abruptly closed its doors.
This week, those same residents are planning a public forum, to figure out how to replace their local grocery store.
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Anita Beavers is a retired nurse and has lived in the Colonial Village neighborhood for 42 years. She's the outgoing president of the neighborhood association. She says she was dismayed when she heard the L&L grocery had closed.
"You know it's like losing one of the best neighbors and its part of what makes it such a great neighborhood," says Beavers. "It's kind of sending shock waves through the neighborhood. What's going to happen next?"
Beavers says she's been on the phone for days, arranging a meeting so neighbors can talk about just that. What's going to happen next?
There's very few cars in the parking lot in front of the L&L Food Center on Mount Hope. Lansing City Council member Kathy Dunbar is director of the South Lansing Community Development Association. Her office is right across the street. She's been shopping here for years.
Dunbar says losing the neighborhood grocery store will have the most impact on the elderly, many of whom have walked to this shopping center since it first opened in the 1950's.
"It's really an issue for a lot of folks who are aging in place, the folks that remember it even when it was Schmidt's, before it was L&L," says Dunbar. "We have retirement centers and a lot of older folks that are empty-nesters and this makes their community livable for them, to be able to access food within walking distance of their home. There's a lot of seniors that live at Grand Haven that walk here for Senior Tuesday, to get their discount."
This is the only grocery store west of Martin Luther King Boulevard in south Lansing. Dunbar says it further expands the "food desert" for residents who don't have a way to get to other grocery stores.
"They end up being forced to buy groceries at a higher cost at a gas station or a convenience store," says Dubar. "You might find a brown banana once in a gas station, but it's not pretty or appetizing."
L&L closed this store and another one on West Saginaw in Lansing Township last Friday. A news release cited the "depressed economy" and a plan to focus on five other L&L stores in the Lansing area. The company declined comment for this story.
Michigan Grocers Association president Linda Gobler doesn't know the details of the L&L closing, but says it's often a cut and dried business decision.
"I think a lot of times people don't realize if they're not shopping at their local store on a regular basis, but maybe they're finding a bargain at say a Walmart, going somewhere else to shop, it's very difficult for that retailer to continue to operate," says Gobler. "One percent profit margin is not very much, so if you're not supporting your local store, it's very difficult for the retailer to stay in business."
Kathy Dunbar says she doesn't blame L&L for closing, but she wishes the company had given the community some advanced notice.
"Maybe if it was an issue of finances or foot traffic or something." says Dunbar. "Sometimes I think if you involved the community beforehand there could have been a different outcome, because the vacancy leaves a hole in several neighborhoods down here."
Anita Beavers and others are worried that the vacancy will attract stores they don't want, like a check cashing store or a dollar store. Ideally, says Beavers, the new business would be just as friendly as the old L&L.
"You got to know everybody there," says Beavers. "Just a neighborly place and that's one of the things people are going to miss the most."
The community is banding together in hopes of finding another business to move in. A public forum is scheduled next week at the Grace United Methodist Church.