Residents weigh in on city's grocery store selection

Jacob Kepler/VIEWThe 8180 S. Las Vegas Blvd. Food 4 Less may be a model for the shopping center planned on the southwest corner of Lake Mead and Martin Luther King boulevards. Advertisement

Alise Armstead is not overwhelmingly optimistic about the proposed Food 4 Less shopping center that may come to a plot of city-owned land on the southwest corner of Lake Mead and Martin Luther King boulevards.

"Vons was a big company, too, but Vons did abandon [the area]," said the Las Vegas native, who now resides in North Las Vegas, as she gazed across the intersection from a bus stop opposite the empty lot behind a McDonald's.

She was referring to the last supermarket in West Las Vegas. The Vons in Edmond Town Center closed in 2004, and Vons' parent company, Safeway, holds the lease until 2015. Since then, residents have had to cross zip codes to get groceries or go to dollar stores, Wal-Mart or Mario's Westside Market.

Armstead said she believes the city of Las Vegas chose to enter into an exclusive negotiating agreement with Las Vegas developer Laurich Properties to bring a Food 4 Less to the site because it looked like a safe bet. Safer, at least, than rival California developer Agora Realty & Management's plan to build a shopping center with an expanded Mario's West Side Market as the anchor tenant.

Sometimes, Armstead shops at Mario's Westside Market, also located at Lake Mead and Martin Luther King boulevards, but added that with five children, she can't always afford Mario's. She characterizes Mario's as a corner store -- with corner store prices because of its small size.

Mario's is a food store with a small meat counter and a small produce section. It carries all the same necessities of a full supermarket but has a reduced selection. It also caters to a primarily black and Hispanic clientele, with fresh pigs' feet, turkey necks and turnip greens -- among other ethnic foods -- in plentiful supply.

Armstead had just come from grocery shopping at the 99 Cents Only Store at Charleston and Decatur boulevards. She walks five blocks from her home, and then takes the bus to get there. If the Food 4 Less opens, she will shop there, she said.

"If it came, it would be welcome, and they would make a lot of money," she said.

She just isn't sure that it's coming.

At a Las Vegas City Council meeting held July 11, the council voted unanimously in favor of Laurich Properties and the proposed Food 4 Less. Now Food 4 Less, owned by Kroger, will do an economic assessment before committing to opening the planned 70,000-square-foot supermarket at the intersection. Laurich has 120 days, or until the beginning of November, to get that commitment.

The city has sought proposals for a supermarket in West Las Vegas for more than two years and offers $5 million to cover the cost of building or the land itself, which is valued at $5 million.

Before the vote, Food 4 Less real estate manager Mamie Yee said, "It's personally gratifying to open in urban neighborhoods that are underserved." She said if the store opened, employees would have full benefits and the right to unionize, and the store would offer competitive wages and hold a job fair with the intention of hiring from the West Las Vegas community.

"We don't really care what store comes. ACORN wants a full store with the right to organize. If Food 4 Less can provide that, we're happy to endorse that," said Ben Speight, head organizer for the West Las Vegas chapter of Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. ACORN has been lobbying for a supermarket and following the issue closely.

"I certainly hope that you do it in 120 days, because the community is in desperate need of a grocery store," Ward 5 City Councilman Ricki Barlow said to Laurich Properties president Richard Gordon at the July 11 council meeting. "I'm going to hold your feet to the fire," Barlow added.

Ward 5 comprises West Las Vegas and the land at Lake Mead and Martin Luther King boulevards. Barlow stressed that he would do whatever he could to support Mario's and other local businesses in the area.

"We don't want to push Mario's market out of the community," he said.

After the council meeting, co-chair for the West Las Vegas chapter of ACORN Rhonda Burney said ACORN would stay closely involved in negotiations with the city and would work to keep the community informed on how the project was progressing.

"We're going to stay on top of it until it's up-and-running," she said.

Jesse Bush, sergeant-at-arms for the West Las Vegas ACORN chapter, said, "If we have to throw bricks at the city hall, that is what we are going to do."

The city held two town hall meetings at the Doolittle Community Center to discuss the supermarket proposals. At the first, on May 8, eight proposals were heard and dozens of community members turned out in T-shirts printed with a declaration of support for Mario's. At a second meeting July 9, where the proposals narrowed to Food 4 Less and Mario's Westside Market, supporters of Mario's Westside Market again turned out in force, and at least a dozen spoke in his favor as a 10-year presence in the economically depressed area and respected member of the community.

Cesar De La Cruz, a representative of Agora Realty who worked on the Mario's proposal, said that the company would definitely still be interested pursuing the project if Food 4 Less does not commit.