Bottom Dollar exit bad news for Youngstown and Warren

To understand what the closing of the Bottom Dollar Food stores in Youngstown and Warren will mean to the residents, consider this explanation of “food deserts” from the U.S. Department of Agriculture:

“Food deserts are defined as urban neighborhoods and rural towns without access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food. Instead of supermarkets and grocery stores, these communities may have no access or are served only by fast-food restaurants and convenience stores that offer few healthy, affordable options.”

The agriculture department notes that the lack of access to supermarkets contributes to a poor diet and can lead to higher levels of obesity and other diet-related diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease. (A column on the Editorial Page Wednesday detailed the growing diabetes epidemic in this country. Today is World Diabetes Day).

With the closing of the three Bottom Dollar Food stores in Youngtown and one in Warren, residents who have come to depend on convenient, affordable shopping will be left high and dry unless there are replacements.

And that’s where the ALDI discount supermarkets may come in. The Germany-based ALDI chain with more than 9,000 stores in more than 18 countries, including the United States, has purchased the Bottom Dollar Food stores from Delhaize Group, the parent company located in Belgium.

Youngstown Mayor John A. McNally and councilmen Mike Ray, D-4th, Paul Drennen, D-5th, and John R. Swierz, D-7th, in whose wards the Bottom Dollar stores are located, are not only concerned about the effects of the closings, but are focused on the future.

The administration has sent letters to Bottom Dollar’s parent and to ALDI Inc. “to attempt to clarify what their intentions are with the locations,” the mayor said.

BARGAINING CHIP

The store on Glenwood Avenue is of special interest to the administration because the city gave the property to Bottom Dollar and wants it back. That’s a reasonable position, but it also could be a bargaining chip with ALDI.

The German-based supermarket chain has several stores in the Mahoning Valley and is trying to determine what to do with the properties in the two cities.

A spokesman told The Vindicator that it’s “premature to share any plans specific to the purchase of these assets at this time. After the transaction has closed and ALDI has finalized its plans, ALDI will communicate them as appropriate.”

The purchase by ALDI of Bottom Dollar Food took city officials and residents by surprise. There was no indication that the three stores in Youngstown and one in Warren were in financial trouble, which is why residents are left to wonder about the transaction.

Indeed, councilmen Ray, Drennen and Swierz expressed concern that the parts of the city will once again become food deserts.

“I’m worried all of sudden that there will be no grocery store there and a vacant property,” Drennen said of the Glenwood Avenue location. “ALDI could easily move into that location. It would make sense as there are no other grocery stores nearby.”

Sixty-six Bottom Dollar stores will be closed by year’s end, affecting 2,200 employees in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The four stores in the Valley are the only ones in Ohio.

ALDI has said the Bottom Dollar employees can apply for positions within its organization, which is good news.

However, the effects of the closings on Youngstown and Warren cannot be minimized.

The loss of full-service, discount supermarkets will be felt for a long time — unless ALDI or some other chain decides to take over the Bottom Dollar locations.