Despite almost $18 million of dollars in taxpayer investment over the past ten years, the Sun Fresh grocery store in the Linwood Shopping center closed its doors Tuesday.
“Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances beyond our control, we are no longer, at this time, able to serve the residents of this important community,” the sign on the front door said.
It was the only grocery store for miles. Neighbor Ryan Beal said he lives across the street from the property at 31st Street and Prospect Avenue.
“I’m about to cry,” he said. “This is real life.”
The Sun Fresh has been struggling for at least the past year. Neighbors, store employees and the nonprofit development company that operated the store blamed crime and homelessness.
“It's a bad feeling, you know, going down like this, much as we tried to save it,” said Beal.
The store couldn’t survive even though the Kansas City Council pumped $750,000 into the operation in May, much of that to bolster security.
“You don't go from having 14,000 customers when we acquired the store, down to now about 2,000, because of management,” Community Builders of Kansas City President and CEO Emmet Pierson Jr. said in the spring.
There was security at the shopping center Tuesday as a smattering of shoppers came to the Sun Fresh doors.
After a high-profile visit to the center last summer, Kansas City Police Chief Stacy Graves promised more patrols. The department said Tuesday it delivered.
“KCPD worked with city officials and had increased patrols in that area, to include having officers assigned specifically to the 31st and Prospect corridor for 24/7 police presence,” spokesperson Officer Alayna Gonzalez said in an email.
Mayor Quinton Lucas said he was disappointed, but believed all the city money was well spent.
“We've fixed up the building. We kept that from becoming yet another decaying structure in the heart of our city,” he told KCUR.
Lucas said the building is sound and ready for a new tenant.
“There have already been some areas of exploration, whether you look at those who are already in that space, nonprofit providers and others or other nonprofit providers,” he said.
A text to Pierson at Community Builders was not immediately returned.
