Two weeks after a City Hall meeting with six, retail executives about expanding into minority communities on Wednesday Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced the commitment of one.
The nation’s largest drugstore chain, which also sells fresh fruits and vegetables, plans to open 50 new stores over the next two years in food desert communities thus creating 300 new jobs. Each new store would employ residents from the communities it serves.
“We already have 11 stores located in food desert areas that are predominately minority communities and there is a need for more stores. Being located in these areas and employing people from the community excites us,” Greg Wasson, president and chief executive officer for Walgreens, told Examiner.com. “Doing something good for the community is what we are all about.”
At Examiner.com press time, a list of Walgreens currently located in food desert areas as well as locations for the 50 new stores were unavailable.
Emanuel praised Walgreens for stepping forward and meeting the challenge of providing jobs and fresh food to underserved communities.
“This is a true story. A few weeks ago I initially stopped into Walgreens here at 86th and Cottage Grove to go to the ATM when I noticed fruits and vegetables out for sale. I never knew Walgreens sold fresh food and I was very impressed,” recalled Emanuel. “It is unacceptable that 450,000 Chicagoans do not have access to healthy, fresh foods for their families and I am committed to eliminating food deserts in out city.”
Wasson added that Walgreens also plans to expand its e-commerce department at its downtown office, which will create an additional 300 new jobs. Walgreens is owned by Deerfield-based Walgreen Co.
Creating more jobs is what Emanuel said he is all about.
“I am about growing jobs in Chicago. I am about getting private employers to invest in our city and neighborhoods and Walgreens’ expansion is an example of that,” added Emanuel.
And more jobs is something Alderman Roderick Sawyer, whose 6th Ward incudes several Walgreens, welcomes.
“Residents in the Chatham community are in need of jobs like anyone else, whether it be minimum wage or higher,” Sawyer said. “Middle-class communities are among the ones having it the hardest because residents that are employed may be underemployed and those residents that are not employed are often seen as over qualified for lower paying jobs.”
The Chatham community on the South Side is one of six food desert communities Emanuel identified in his June 15 meeting with grocery store executives. The other five were Roseland, Englewood and West Pullman on the South Side and North Lawndale and Douglass on the West Side.
All six food desert communities have a predominately Black population, according to the U.S. Census.
And despite expansion obstacles retailers have identified to Emanuel said the city was not providing any assistance to Walgreens.
“I can tell the taxpayers of Chicago tat Walgreens will not be receiving any free subsidies, such as TIFs, from the city to expand,” Emanuel said.
Among the obstacles often preventing expansion, retail executives said, were transportation, security, real estate and bureaucratic red tape.
Comments