A YEAR AGO, seven Baltimore neighborhoods unexpectedly lost their local supermarkets when a small chain went out of business. The situation was nothing short of calamitous; food is not a luxury but a necessity.
Finally, the situation is getting better.
A week ago, the City Council approved zoning changes that will permit a supermarket to be constructed in Waverly, at 33rd Street near Gorsuch Avenue. The very next day, a new store had a grand opening in Cherry Hill, ending a year-long void in that southern Baltimore community.
The supermarket operators' renewed interest is an important gauge of business confidence in Baltimore. Good grocery stores are essential for residential revitalization.
The city expects to add a dozen new supermarkets within the next year. They range from a fancy Fresh Fields gourmet outlet at Inner Harbor East to two stores belonging to the Aldi chain, which carries a limited variety of staples at rock-bottom prices. A new entrant is Mars, a popular regional chain, which plans to open its first city market at Loch Raven Boulevard and Northern Parkway.
Unlike in Washington, D.C., where several big supermarkets pulled out of the city, Baltimore's market leaders -- Giant, Safeway and Metro -- have actually increased their number of shops here in recent years. The problem has been the collapse of smaller chains, which often operated as an impoverished area's sole supermarket.
The broad mix of shops is a signal that operators big and small are recognizing the potential for growth in the city. This is encouraging. Until recently, they were perfectly willing to write off vast areas, with the result that drug stores filled the vacuum by adding food items.
The city should now redouble its efforts to find supermarket operators for Pimlico and the Howard Park/Forest Park areas. Despite their substantial populations, neither has a supermarket. And the major chains are not interested if they cannot be offered sites that are big enough to accommodate a full-service store and parking lot.
This was a sticking point in Waverly, too, but it was resolved. The same determination is needed in other areas without a supermarket.