East Garfield Park and Near West Side residents are finally getting the grocery store that’s been 13 years in the making.
Pete’s Fresh Market opened Wednesday on the corner of Madison and Western and features 68,000 square feet of packaged and fresh goods.
This reduces the food desert in that area and the city’s overall number of grocery-less communities. The store also creates about 160 jobs, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said.
“Before today, the Near West Side lacked convenient access to fresh, healthy food options,” Emanuel said in a press release. “Not only is this Pete’s Fresh Market within easy reach of thousands of Chicago residents, but it is helping to grow employment in an area that needed new, steady jobs.”
In 2001, residents in the area fought to have a Pete’s grocery store in the community over other chains like Aldi. The debate and bidding process ultimately took eight years before the community accepted Pete’s proposal. Construction was challenged, and temporarily halted, after local protesters demanded jobs.
Chi-Town Review reported the process in full interactive coverage of Chicago food deserts.
More on UK’s food deserts at http://www.fooddeserts.org