See organizer and chairwoman describe food apartheid in Milwaukee
Melody McCurtis, of Metcalfe Park Community Bridges, and Chairwoman Marcelia Nicholson Bovell discuss a food apartheid resolution.
- The Sentry Foods on West Silver Spring Drive could close in the next two or three days, staff said.
- The location opened across the street from Westlawn Gardens in response to residents’ calls for a grocery store.
- The closure is the latest in a trend of grocery stores closing in areas of Milwaukee who already have little access to fresh foods.
Less than three years after it opened to fill a food desert on Milwaukee’s northwest side, the Sentry Foods at 6350 West Silver Spring Drive is abruptly closing its doors.
The closure is the latest in a swath of grocery stores shutting down across the city, largely affecting lower income neighborhoods with little access to fresh foods. An Aldi store just two miles away shuttered last week, and other neighborhoods have protested Pick ‘n Save closures.
A notice posted on Sentry Foods’ doors on the weekend of Jan. 18 announces the store will close permanently. On Sunday morning, cashiers told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel they expect the store will close this week, possibly in the next two or three days.
“This decision was not made lightly. Many factors were carefully considered before coming to this difficult conclusion. Saying goodbye is truly painful, and we are deeply sorry to bring this news to the community that has supported us over the years,” the notice reads.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has reached out to Sentry Foods, which operates nine stores in Wisconsin, for details on the factors that led to the closure.
Another sign advertised a 40% off sale for all groceries except tobacco, beer, liquor and lottery products, with all sales final and no exchanges or returns. A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter observed plenty of non-perishable products left on the shelves, but entire freezer cases sat empty.
Mattie Humphrey was one of several shoppers in the store Sunday morning. She was shocked when she learned of the store’s pending closure a day earlier.
“Why is it closing in the community that people need help?” she said. “Why is everything closing all of a sudden?”
Humphrey works at another store where she’ll be able to shop. But she lives across the street from Sentry and finds it convenient to walk over – like many of her neighbors who don’t have cars or are elderly and don’t have someone to drive them, especially in winter.
Humphrey has watched as other communities lose their grocery stores and could see her neighbors working together to fight the closure, but she hasn’t heard of any discussions so far.
The Sentry store is located across the street from Westlawn Gardens, a recently redeveloped area that offers affordable and market-rate housing for low- and moderate-income residents.
When Sentry opened in late October 2023, Milwaukee’s Housing Authority noted residents had asked for a neighborhood grocery store for more than 15 years. Local leaders celebrated Sentry’s potential to improve health and wellness in the area.
A 2023 analysis by the city projected 12,000 more Milwaukeeans would have access to a grocery store within one mile of their home due to the opening of Sentry Foods on West Silver Spring Drive.
Now, residents are left with few options. Two Pick ‘n Save stores on West Capitol Drive and Good Hope Road may be the only nearby, full-size supermarkets remaining, and each are about an hour-long walk or half-hour bus ride from Westlawn.
About four miles from Sentry Foods, Sherman Park Grocery Store is also at risk of closing. Owners have cited growing financial challenges, including the interruption of SNAP benefits in November and flooding last August that damaged equipment.
The growing trend worries Humphrey and other residents who are seeing their options fade.
“The economy is already taking a toll,” she said.
Hope Karnopp can be reached at HKarnopp@gannett.com.
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