LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Folks in southwest Little Rock are about to have fewer options for grocery shopping— in August the Kroger on Colonel Glenn is set to close, and one city director called it bad news.
"We know that it has detrimental health effects on people," said Kathy Webb, city director of ward three and Chief Executive Officer of the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance.
She said although the area is not a food desert, it's close to being one now that Kroger is closing.
"A lot of people are upset about it," Kroger shopper, Carmella Phillips said.
Phillips said that she goes to the Kroger on Colonel Glenn every Sunday.
"It's convenient. It's honestly the only convenient store for me to leave downtown to go to going home. I use their pharmacy," Phillips said.
She believes that the closure will negatively affect the southwest Little Rock community.
"There's elderly people who can't drive very far to go to the pharmacies, to go get groceries. It will make it a lot harder," Phillips explained. "The closest other Krogers are almost 6 miles away, ones four miles away,"
Webb agreed that people should have more choices and is working on alternative ways to serve the community.
"For some people, transportation is an issue. Cost is an issue," she said.
Webb said her understanding is that the store is closing on August 13th because it is not making enough money.
"One of the things that I'm focusing on right now is to try to come up with a set of policy recommendations for the Governor and for other decision makers so that when grocery stores close, whether they're in urban areas or in rural areas, we will have examples from other states of what they've done to mitigate that damage," said Webb.
We reached out to Kroger for a comment but did not hear back.