Walmart announced it was closing the store near E. Colfax Avenue and Havana Street due to poor business performance.
AURORA, Colo. — Walmart decided in May to close its Walmart Neighborhood Market near East Colfax Avenue and Havana Street in Aurora in June. The company said poor business performance was the primary reason for the closure.
Now that the store has closed, people are beginning to realize just how important it was to the community.
“That’s one thing the people here have to lose,” Christopher “Christopher X” Thomas said.
Thomas has lived in Aurora for 20 years and has seen many of the big-name stores leave.
“I’ve seen this area turn into a food desert or head in that direction,” Thomas said.
Thomas said she started growing her own produce four years ago at Denver Urban Gardens’ Spencer Garrett Park Community Garden, and being an early planter helps her keep food on the table.
“We know that food is essential and that good food is vital,” Thomas said, “and it’s time we knew where our food was grown.”
He said instead of just growing for himself, he shares his harvest with the community, who he knows need his work now more than ever.
“There’s a woman who lives in Kenton,” Thomas says, “who used to walk here with her son. And I asked her, ‘How do you feel about Walmart closing?’ And she couldn’t do anything because she didn’t have a car. She got up, put her stroller in, went to Walmart, filled up her tank and came right back. That was her means. I don’t know what her means are now.”
City officials also have concerns. Ward 1 Councilwoman Crystal Murillo said she knows how important Walmart has been to people in the community.
“This building serves a need and a function, and the location is very important,” Murillo said. “Residents along the Colfax corridor and in northwest Aurora tend to rely on public transportation to get to work, so the fact that this building was very accessible to residents along that public access and transit corridor was also important.”
Murillo said the issue has led to increased reliance on groups like Food Justice Northwest Aurora.
” [a] “It’s concerning that there aren’t any full-service grocery stores within a five or six mile radius,” Murillo said.
Mayor Mike Coffman said in a Facebook post that the area around Colfax and Havana cannot be considered a food desert because the Lowe’s Mercado on Colfax is another grocery shopping option, but Murillo said it can’t be an “apples-to-apples comparison.”
“They have a different kind of focus and different offerings,” she explained, “so it’s not necessarily just going to the next store. They’ll appreciate our business and maybe there’ll be some interim work we can do to see if we can partner with them to help enhance access.”
Murillo and Food Justice NW Aurora will be hosting a community meeting at Montview Elementary School on Saturday, July 13, to discuss the recent store closures and hear from the public.
“Walmart isn’t the first big-box store there to close, so I think people are concerned and really questioning what the strategy and long-term vision is for the area,” Murillo said.
Meanwhile, until a suitable solution is found, Thomas said everyone is welcome to come and enjoy his produce.
“I don’t think, ‘Oh, I need to get paid,'” Thomas said. “If I follow God’s will and give back to my community, that’s my reward. So, for me, it’s not a big deal.”
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