Watch profitability community advocate Jo Patterson speak at a Friday news conference.
There’s a call to keep a large grocery store open in an area of Southeast D.C. where fresh produce options are increasing, but still not as plentiful as other parts of the city. The plea comes amid concerns from the community and the grocer’s holding company about escalating crime.
Ward 8 Council member Trayon White Sr. is calling for the Giant along Alabama Avenue Southeast to remain open so his constituents can access fresh food without traveling to a neighboring ward. White also addressed the need to keep those jobs in Ward 8 and Giant Food’s concerns about violence and theft at the store.
“They say that right now they don’t see themselves closing, but they also say they can’t continue to go down this road without any help,” White said at a press conference outside the store on Friday.
The Southeast store claims it has lost half a million dollars in product (20% of its sales) and have spent $300,000 on security efforts. In a statement, Giant also asked for the community’s help to support their crime mitigation efforts at the Alabama Avenue location and at other stores.
“The reality is that theft and violence at this store is significant, and getting worse, not better. As a result, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to operate under these conditions,” the statement said.
But White said crime prevention efforts need to address community needs such as “wrap around services, mental health, food — a basic necessity that we need to survive.”
As far as Giant’s stated worries about safety and the need to run a profitable store, profitability community advocate Jo Patterson said the losses can’t compare with the revenue the store has made in the community.
“Multiply it times 10, how many years that you’ve gotten rich off of our communities, and subtract those dollars from the [lost] dollars,” Patterson said.
White told reporters Giant has not released a projected timeline for when it thinks losses might become too much for the store to keep its doors open, however he said, “we agreed to come back to the table.”
“I do know that the executive branch is meeting with Giant next week, and we’re going to reconvene as a whole,” White said.
He cited a reason that some resort to theft: Lack of food.
Another community advocate added, “They’re stealing for a reason — they’re starving. So let’s look at what we need to do for the community to bring up our community.”
“There is no conversation about the police taking over this lot. I know that the police are stretched in numbers, and so we want to assure that we empower people in the community to let residents know where their resources are so they don’t have to steal from the store,” White said.
