The Community Redevelopment Agency board on Thursday approved $205,000 toward improvements for a new Piggly Wiggly grocery store in a documented food desert on Tallahassee’s south side.
Harveys closed May 2014 — three months after the announcement rocked nearby neighborhoods — due to its proximity to Winn-Dixie on Paul Russell Road. Harveys was an anchor store within the Southside Shopping Center, located near South Monroe Street and Orange Avenue. The store’s departure sparked debate and brought urgency to the need for healthy food options in an area besieged by alarming infant mortality rates and chronic health ailments.
CRA officials said several companies were considered, however interested grocers were hard to find.