2 grocery stores in southern Dallas' food desert close their doors

DALLAS - Two grocery stores that served parts of South Dallas are closing their doors in an area that already has a shortage of fresh food options.

A Fiesta Mart is now the only grocery store to get fresh produce in parts of South Dallas. 

Customers say they aren’t shocked but are left wondering what will happen next. 

The signage has already been stripped off the Save A Lot grocery stores near Fair Park and on Lancaster Road. 

A sign on the door of the Lancaster Road location says they would be closed on Feb. 28, Wednesday. 

That's where we met Timothy Griffin. He didn’t know the store was closing.

Despite the sign about Wednesday, the doors were already locked on Tuesday. 

"They got a church on every corner, but nobody put anything back in the neighborhood," Griffin said. "That’s the thing I am worried about."

About four miles away from the Lancaster Road location is the Save A Lot near Fair Park. 

"It’s not too many grocery stores over here," said local resident Jacnesha Thompson. "I used to get my groceries from over here, and it helped my mom out and stuff like that."

No closing signs were on the windows. In fact, customers said the location closed a few weeks ago.

"With this one closed now, you have nowhere else to buy groceries other than Fiesta," said customer Jackie Crawford.

Fixing the South Dallas food desert problem has been a priority for Dallas city leaders. 

Council has created multiple incentives to lure businesses to the area, but it has not materialized. 

Some locals say they don’t see things changing anytime soon.

"Because it’s a poor area, and people don’t want to put a Tom Thumb or Kroger in this area," Crawford said.

FOX 4 reached out to Save A Lot and the owners of the two stores for comment, but we did not get a response Tuesday. 

Griffin has lived in the area for 50 years. He says this once thriving area with multiple Black-owned businesses has become its own type of desert. 

"This store closing wouldn’t mean nothing because they have already taken all the resources out of this area," he said.

While it is not building a store in South Dallas, Kroger just launched a delivery service to a South Dallas community center, and customers won’t be charged a delivery fee.