I grew up in Merchantville which is a nice suburb a few miles from Camden. You learned quickly not to go to the local supermarkets, a shop n’ bag and a Thriftway, on the first of the month. Busloads of people from Camden with fresh government checks would fill those places up because there were virtually no supermarkets in Camden back then. That’s 30 years ago. Not a new issue.
You learned quickly not to go to the local supermarkets, a shop n’ bag and a Thriftway, on the first of the month. Busloads of people from Camden with fresh government checks would fill those places up because there were virtually no supermarkets in Camden back then
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Certainly not a phenomenon limited to Camden. I lived on Pittsburgh South Side for a number of years and I learned to get my Giant Eagle shopping done after the 10th of the month because of the welfare shoppers coming over with their big orders from the hill district and the hill top projects above the South Side.
What makes ghetto grocery stores such an iffy proposition isn’t just the theft or the unions, its the obstructionism from the government and community busybody groups.
Bottom Dollar has been trying to get permission to open a store here in Garfield- every few months someone has arguments about where the trucks are going to pull in or where the shrubbery is going to be.
The long awaited Hill District Shop n Save has taken many, many years of redtape- maybe this fall it will open. Save a Lot tried to open there, but the neighborhood fathers veto’ed the idea as Save a Lot isn’t “full service”. They have an ability to do this kind of thing because of zoning and how much of the land is controlled by the URA or other governmental bodies.