ANDERSON – The news that the city of Anderson is funding a study for the possible opening of a downtown grocery store was met with excitement by residents of the Parkview Place apartments located above the YMCA.
The Anderson Board of Public Works on Tuesday approved a $3,500 contract with Associated Wholesale Groceries Inc. to conduct a market study for a possible grocery store and pharmacy at the former Walgreens site at 14th and Jackson streets. The cost of the contract is being paid through the city's share of food and beverage tax revenue.
“When Walgreens closed, it left a hole in the downtown for food and pharmacy,” Michael Frischkorn, deputy director of the Anderson Economic Development Department, said.
Greg Winkler, executive director of the Anderson Economic Development Department, said the city paying for a marketing study is not unusual and a similar study was done of the Edgewood Plaza area.
“The study will validate a need in the downtown,” he said. “The results will be provided to anyone interested in opening a grocery store.”
Winkler said the study will look at the number of residents in the downtown area.
Jim Bailey, a local history buff who writes a weekly column for The Herald Bulletin, said he believes the last downtown grocery store was the Hoosier Market that closed sometime in the 1960s.
“Wonderful,” Lynn Pharris, a Parkview Place resident, said of the idea.
“One is absolutely a need,” she said. “There are a lot of us that don’t have cars and there is no way to get to the grocery store. I take people to the store in my car.”
The downtown Walgreens, which closed April 29 after more than 20 years there, had carried many of the basic food items.
Pharris said she would shop at a store in the neighborhood and a pharmacy would be an excellent addition, especially if they delivered prescriptions.
She said it would help people who live in senior housing complexes in downtown Anderson to have a grocery store within walking distance.
Pharris said another benefit would be for pet owners to purchase pet food without having to travel to Scatterfield Road.
“I think it’s a great idea and is long overdue,” resident Connie Wood said. “It would be nice and make a big difference in downtown.”
Carla Levell cares for a patient who resides in the Parkview Place. She said she would take the patient to the downtown store with a benefit being a pharmacy.
“Right now she drives all over town to get her prescriptions and sometimes she can’t drive because she is too sick,” Levell said.
Levell said there are many people without cars that could shop at a downtown store.
She said it would be convenient for her to purchase groceries at a downtown location instead of having to drive out to a store on Broadway.