Community Comes Together To Support South Shore Grocery Store Hit By Looters
CHICAGO (CBS)-- A local grocery store that was hit by looters will reopen Thursday.
Local Market Foods is the main source of fresh food for people in Chicago's South Shore neighborhood, and the community came together to protect it.
This neigborhood is considered a food desert because there are very few grocery stores. When this store closed down because of looters, many here had nowhere else to go.
"When are we supposed to get these much needed items if the majority of the area are closed or are not available or open for businesses," Owner Eva Jakubowski said.
That's the question some in this community asked her, when she closed the grocery store for several days.
She said her employees and even security were concerned about coming back to work. So, she closed up shop.
The community no longer had a nearby source for fresh food. That's why people in the neighborhood, along with community organizers, plan to show their support Thursday as the store reopens.
"What we're doing is bringing community members to say we are not going to allow our stores to be closed or taken over by vandals, sending a clear signal that the support of the community is behind local market," Neighbor Network Alliance Val Free said.
This grocery store was also behind the Feeding South Shore initiative. Providing thousands of meals to families in the neighborhood.