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Push for community-owned grocery store
A grassroots group is pushing for a community-run grocery store in South St. Petersburg after a supermarket chain shut down two weeks ago. FOX 13’s Matthew McClellan reports
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - A grocery co-op wants to offer fresh food to South St. Pete residents who recently lost a grocery store.
The backstory:
For years, Save-A-Lot on Gulfport Boulevard quietly filled a need. It wasn’t high-end, but it had the basics. Now it’s closed, and the nearest full-service grocery store is out of reach for many nearby families.
One Community Grocery Co-op is stepping up to fill that gap.
Organizers want to open a member-owned grocery store in South St. Pete, where access to affordable, nutritious food has become increasingly difficult.
It has signed up about 150 members so far and need 300 to move forward with development.
By the numbers:
In Pinellas County, 20 neighborhoods are officially flagged as food deserts, meaning they meet both low-income and low-access thresholds. That’s about 1 in 3 low-income tracts, with many clustered in South St. Pete, Clearwater, and Largo.
USDA data shows:
- Nearly 33,000 households in Pinellas don’t have a vehicle.
- Around 44,500 households rely on SNAP benefits to afford groceries.
Even though the county’s overall poverty rate (13.2%) is slightly better than the state average, transportation and distance still keep healthy food out of reach for thousands of people.
The Source: This article includes data from the USDA Food Access Research Atlas (2019), the 2021 Congressional Research Service report (IF11841), and One Community Grocery Co-op.