Big voids will emerge as Walmart pulls out of Chicago neighborhoods, community leaders say
CHICAGO (CBS) -- In four days, four Chicago communities will lose their Wal-Mart stores – resulting in longer commutes for food and prescriptions in some of the affected communities.
But some are looking a little farther down the road at how to reverse the exodus of big-box corporate America from cities like Chicago.
They shared their plans Wednesday with CBS 2's Chris Tye.
Walmart announced Tuesday that it would be closing the following stores by Sunday:
- The Chatham Supercenter at 8431 S. Stewart Ave.
- The Kenwood Neighborhood Market at 4720 S. Cottage Grove Ave.
- The Lakeview Neighborhood Market at 2844 N. Broadway.
- The Little Village Neighborhood Market at 2551 W. Cermak Rd.
There are worries of a food desert in Kenwood. Tye asked Walmart shopper Leola Ferguson how she expects the community will get fresh produce when the Cottage Grove Avenue store closes.
"It's going to be hard," Ferguson said. "Like I don't know."
In Chatham, Greater Chatham Initiative executive director Nedra Fears said the closure of the supercenter would create a pharmacy desert. The Chatham Supercenter has a health center, and a Walmart Academy that has provided job training for the community.
So as the four big-box Walmart stores leave Chicago, big voids emerge.
"We are devastated we don't make the cut," Fears said. "I feel like a dating app – you know, they decided to swipe left."
While Wal-Mart claims they consulted with the community about the closures, her phone never rang. But her Chatham Walmart - visited by a quarter million people - did get major improvements annually through the medical and training facilities inside.
"After making tens of millions in investment, you're going to close on dime?" Fears said. "Very puzzling."
Suburbs are feeling it too. The village manager in Homewood says the south suburb lost its Walmart one months ago. Homewood has yet to find a replacement - and as they scour the country looking for good answers for what to put in those 100,000 square-foot facilities Walmart stores leave behind, the fact is there aren't many.
"We have to figure out a way to go after these big-box retailers - that they come into our communities, we give them all types of incentives, then they leave," said Alderman-elect Lamont Robinson. "We have to stop that."
Robinson says he is making the issue a focus of his first days on the job next month.
"I will be working on an ordinance to make sure that when big-box retailers come into our community, they receive incentives – that they have to be able to pay those incentives back," Robinson said.
In the meantime, those preparing for life in a food desert are encouraging Chicagoans to support businesses that have remained loyal to the city over generations.
"I think that we really need to work with tried-and-true performers, like Jewel, Food 4 Less, the dollar stores," Fears said. "We want corporations that are going to ride and die with us."
Political and faith leaders are holding a rally in Chatham on Thursday to voice their anger at the closure of the Walmart Supercenter - and to devise messages to corporate America and help to those stuck in these newly-created food and pharmacy deserts.