Pueblo Eastside Safeway Closed. Residents have limited choices.

East Side Safeway is boarded up.

Since the Merger of Albertsons and Safeway in 2014, two Safeway stores in Pueblo have closed,

617 W. 29th Street and the Eastside Safeway at 1322 E. 8th. According to a representative from United Food and Commercial Workers Union, both Albertsons and Safeway are union stores. The Eastside Safeway closed last November. It had been at that location since 1973.

Pueblo City Councilman Larry Atencio is concerned about the store closure on the Eastside. Atencio said, "Plain and simple, that part of town is a food desert, because we simply don't have stores down there that provide any kind of wholesome and healthy food. The only thing we have is dollar stores and convenience stores." According the Food Empowerment Project, "a food desert can be described as geographic areas where residents' access to affordable, healthy food options (especially fresh fruits and vegetables) is restricted or nonexistent due to the absence of grocery stores within convenient traveling distance." USDA relates low access to being more than 1 mile from a supermarket.

Councilman Atencio and City Manager Sam Azad in discussion,

after Pueblo Area Council of Governments (PACOG) meeting.

Phyllis Roach reports that she misses the Eastside Safeway and is hoping for a grocer to come into the area. Since the store closed she does her shopping at the dollar store and meat store.

Phyllis Roach misses the access to Safeway

As mentioned by Atencio, the Eastside has limited choices in food shopping. One of the stores that sells food is Double J Meats located on E. 4th Street. It is run by Joe Fox and has been in business for 53 years. Fox notices an increase in business since Safeway closed. They sell meats and limited produce including lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, onions and potatoes.

Double J Meats

Double J customers

Double J produce compartment

Another option for food shopping is at Dollar General, where there is no fresh fruit or vegetables according to an employee.

East Side Dollar General

Dollar General has canned, packaged and frozen foods.

Near by is a 7-Eleven, which has some fresh fruit but mostly convenient items.

7-Eleven also on 4th Street

Fruit stand at 7-Eleven

This grocery store on Joplin has been closed for years.

A little information about the Eastside, the Eastside neighborhood is one of the oldest of Pueblo neighborhoods. It encompasses just over 1,967 acres of land, extending 2.6 miles east-west and 1.9 miles north-west. The boundaries are Fountain Creek on west, US 50B on north, and Pueblo Municipal boundary on south and east. Most houses were built before 1940. There are 5 parks including Fountain Creek Trail and El Central del Quinto Sol Skate Park. There are restaurants and food trucks.

Eastside house on Joplin

Alex Martinez at skate park.

Martinez making a jump

Playground and park next to skate park.

The Eastside neighborhood especially the lower Eastside area has one of the highest percent of families living in poverty in Pueblo. The Eastside also meets the criteria to be considered an environmental justice area and this criteria is related to limitation in transportation.

Courtesy of the Socioeconomic Profile of Pueblo

Courtesy of John Adams Transportation Program Manager for the City of Pueblo and Bart Mikitowicz, MPA, Transportation Planner through PACOG.

The closest grocery store (1.5 miles from lower Eastside), is Save a Lot, which carries fresh fruits and vegetables. Employees report an increase in customers since Safeway has closed. This is across the street from Walgreens the closest pharmacy.

Save a Lot is the closest grocery store to the Eastside on Bonforte.

Save a Lot produce.

Save a Lot produce aisle

When asked why the Eastside Safeway closed, Atencio said that it might have been related to the Albertson/Safeway merger, and because it is a low income neighborhood. "Well, it wasn't because of theft, what I got from Safeway was that, that store just wasn't profitable for their business plan," he said. He reports that he has been working on getting a grocer to purchase the Safeway. He said, "I had 4 interested grocers. What I did, was, I connected them with Safeway and then I got out of the way, because I am not a negotiator. All I could do was provide information. In terms of the negotiation with Safeway, that was up to them." Atencio relates that there was strong interest from one store but they wanted to have the building given to them. Pueblo Development Foundation offered to purchase it and lease it to the buyer, and after so many years of payments when the Foundation was compensated, the Foundation would give the building to the buyer. The county offered tax breaks. The potential buyer balked and came back and asked for 2.2 million dollars and then, they would agree to a deal. Atencio said, "Government can't incentivize retail stores to the tune of 2 million dollars, we would go bankrupt in 2 months." He stopped negotiations with that potential buyer and has not heard back from them.

The Safeway building is still owned by Safeway and is for sale. The list price is 1.25 million dollars, according to Joe Beck, broker and Vice President of SRS Realestate Partners. Beck goes on to say, there has been interest in purchasing Safeway and some have been grocers. He reports that there is a limitation of big box stores for sale, but then he said, "How do I say this, this is not Cherry Creek." He recently showed the building. He commented that Safeway knows what the community wants, but at the end of the day, Safeway has to do what makes good business sense.

Kris Staff, Director of Public Affairs for Safeway in Denver, did answer phone, once, last week, she said, "I'm in the middle of something", and called back but phone was disconnected after introduction and first question. She did not return any subsequent messages.

Councilman Larry Atencio,

in front of Health Department

Atencio is open to help from citizens, he said "I am looking for anyone that has any information that I can use to go after a retailer, a grocer. I am willing to take any help what so ever. I mean if someone happens to be in a city and a grocery store looks real nice, get contact information and I will be more than glad to follow up."