BALDWIN, Fla. – After nearly three months without a full grocery store, the town of Baldwin is getting ready to have one again.
The mayor told News4JAX the grand opening of the store could happen this summer.
The last market, which was owned by the town, closed in mid-March.
“It hurt us big time,” Baldwin resident Dennis White said. “We don’t have transportation and that’s a big issue.”
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White said his commute to the grocery store used to be short, and it used to take him five minutes to get there. Now that the Baldwin Market is closed, he said he has to call a rideshare to take him to the nearest grocery store, and according to GPS, that’s about 16 minutes away.
“Now I pay, like I said, $20 each way for Uber to go get my groceries. So it’s been rough,” White said. “It’s adding up big time.”
But White having to travel far to get food could be ending soon.
In an email sent to News4JAX, the mayor said in part:
“We have been working on a few grocery store owners around Florida and Georgia for a while and we have found an owner that we like and we think he is a good fit for the Town of Baldwin….They started to remodel the inside and should be ready for a grand opening in July.”
White said the news made him feel very happy.
“You know I can’t wait,” White said.
Others in town said they’re excited to get another grocery store because it means they won’t have to travel miles away or shop at the local dollar store which doesn’t have as many options.
One person said when the town closed the market, it turned into a food desert.
According to the Food Empowerment Project, a food desert is described as a geographic area where residents’ access to affordable, healthy food options is restricted or nonexistent due to the absence of grocery stores within convenient traveling distance.
According to the USDA, 2.3 million people live more than a mile from a supermarket and do not have access to a vehicle.
A few months ago, News4JAX covered a story on a grocery store going into Jacksonville’s Eastside -- helping that area no longer become a food desert.
White said even when the grocery store does return to his area he hopes the store has everything everyone needs and more.
“I do like chitlins. And pig feet and stuff like that,” White said.
News4JAX reached out to the Baldwin mayor again to ask more questions about the grocery store opening, and at the time of this publication, we hadn’t heard back.