Residents urge action on grocery store

Alana Roberts

Wednesday, June 1, 2005 | 11:03 a.m.

Since a Vons closed at Owens Avenue and J Street last year, residents such as Deborah Jackson said they have had to drive 20 to 30 minutes out of their way to find an adequate grocery store.

Jackson, along with at least 100 residents in the area, gathered on Monday at a North Las Vegas community center to voice their complaints and urge local and state officials to find a way to get a full-service grocery store into the economically depressed area near downtown Las Vegas.

"Sometimes I go to a convenience store to get small things like soda, but it is too expensive for most items and the small convenience stores don't have produce," Jackson said.

The lack of a full-service grocery store has many residents in the neighborhood near Bonanza Road and Martin Luther King Boulevard angry. It highlights inequalities in low-income neighborhoods, residents said.

Las Vegas Councilman Lawrence Weekly said he is working to get a grocery store into the area, but not necessarily at Edmond Town Center, where the Vons store was.

While residents seek a replacement, the grocery company and John Edmond, developer of Edmond Town Center, say they're working to fill the void left at the strip mall by Vons' absence.

"Vons is working with local brokerage networks to secure a tenant for the property and are looking at a variety of different types of possible tenants," Daymond Rice, a Vons spokesman, said. Although Vons vacated the property at 1061 Owens Ave. last year, the company still holds a lease on the property, Edmond said.

Edmond said a couple of grocery retailers expressed interest in the vacated during the International Council of Shopping Centers convention held in Las Vegas last month.

The Vons store is part of phase one of the Edmond Town Center, which has been in existence for about 10 years, Edmond said. Construction on the $20 million phase two project is set for completion in mid-July, he said.

Edmond said he is approaching the replacement of the Vons store realistically, suggesting that the community should work together with his company to bring in another supermarket.

"You're talking about people in the neighborhood that don't really have any money," Edmond said. "Sometimes we can be a little bit vocal about what we don't have, and I try to be realistic about my approach to help revitalize the area. I try not to distort what the facts are."

He said is working to revitalize the area, something that not many developers are doing.

Will Ward, head organizer for the Nevada Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now or ACORN, said community members are interested in a new grocery store but not necessarily one in the abandoned Vons location.

"We strongly believe that Edmond Town Center should survive, but it doesn't necessarily have to be anchored by a grocery store," Ward said. "We believe there are other locations that are much more viable."

Ward said a reluctance by Vons to sublease to a competitor is keeping the property vacant.

"It's a tricky situation because Vons still holds the lease on that property," Ward said. "That gives them a great deal of authority in terms of who will or won't relocate in that property. There's some talk about them not wanting a competitor. You've got Vons taking care of their own interests at the expense of the community."

Sen. Steve Horsford, D-North Las Vegas, recently sponsored Senate Bill 229, which would provide up to $1 million in tax incentives to any grocery store that comes to the area, provided the y store also agreed to invest in the community and provide good jobs with benefits to area residents, he said Monday.

Councilman Weekly said his hands are tied as far as getting a replacement tenant. He said the residents of the community don't seem to understand that there aren't many retailers willing to locate a store in the Edmond Town Center site.

"I clearly support what the neighborhood is saying," Weekly said. "I support them wanting to get out and talk about it. I don't want neighbors in an uproar. People believe you can protest and it's going to force people to come into your area.

"I've called one grocery store operator, who I think would be compatible to the neighborhood, Food 4 Less. They flat out aren't interested."

Weekly said a grocery store will soon be brought to the area. However, it is unclear if it will go into Edmond Town Center. He said another possibility is in the Enterprise Park at Martin Luther King and Lake Mead boulevards.

"I am very optimistic that at the end of the day this will be behind us real soon," Weekly said. "I believe something positive is going to happen out of this whether the grocery store goes there on that site (or not)."

He said the city also is offering incentives in the form of tax breaks and in-store infrastructure improvements paid by the city, he said.

Hazel Geran, 78, said she often drives eight or nine miles to find a grocery store but often goes to a convenience store in the area out of convenience.

She currently lives on I Street behind the site that once housed the Vons, and she said since the grocery store vacated the premises she sometimes finds herself spending more money on products such as a loaf of bread at the local convenience stores because they are closer.

"What we need is some supermarket store owners coming in here and telling us why they won't come in," she said.