CHARLOTTE — In May, Mecklenburg County commissioners approved $1.5 million for West Coast Spanglers Market to help build a grocery store in north Charlotte.
The store would sit on the corner of Koehler Avenue and Statesville Avenue.
This area is right in the middle of what one would consider to be a food desert.
“When you talk about access to healthy food, when you talk about access to great nutrition, that’s something were going to get a great residual effect long term. This is creating healthy communities. It’s good for our economy,” said Mecklenburg County Commissioner Mark Jerrell.
Jerel said Spangles was chosen because of how difficult it has been to attract traditional grocers to the area.
The co-owners of the Commerical Real Estate Boundary Street said they spent the past seven years trying.
“Most big guys will say, ‘We can’t make money here’, and once we get this going we will have a proof of concept that they actually will be able to thrive,” co-owner Rodney Faulkner said.
Georgina Belk, who lives in a senior apartment complex, told Channel 9 that she struggles to get fresh food in her area.
“It’s a food desert. It takes us a little while to get to the closest store, so it will be a blessing to get one closer by,” Belk explained.
She said she had to get others to take her to a store almost 20 minutes away.
Commissioners hope the grocery store will be open for business by the end of 2025.
Jerel said if this works, it could be a model for other food deserts in a county seeing massive population growth.
“It may be a replicable model for us to deliver and address this issue in other areas,” Jerel elaborated.
Before the money is signed over to Spangles, it has to complete a checklist guaranteeing they will open up.
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