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INDIANAPOLIS — A store where many people living in a Northside community shop for food and other basic items is closing.
The Dollar General at 38th and College streets announced they will be closing.
People WRTV spoke to say it is a big hit for the area. The store is in a food desert, meaning there isn’t a grocery store within at least a mile.
Indy Food Policy, an organization that works to provide access to food says Indianapolis is one of the worst American cities in terms of food deserts.
Mekhi Lewis goes to Dollar General to get food and says the closure is inconvenient.
“There’s nothing within like two or three miles,” Lewis said.
Reverend Charles Harrison and other neighbors are now saying they think crime is to blame for the closure.
“It has to be because of the crime and violence,” Harrison said. “I know people are afraid to come to the store particularly at night time because of the history of the robberies that have been happening and people feel like it’s just not safe anymore.”
“I definitely can see that being a possible reason for why that is happening,” Harrison said.
Harrison is the president of the TenPoint Coalition, an organization that works to curb violence in the area. He says Dollar General has seen its fair share of crime.
IMPD police records show that in the past 5-years Dollar General has reported at least 99 robberies and/or thefts.
One of those robberies happened to Lisa Stewart.
She was robbed at gunpoint in September of 2022.
“Once I realized what was happening I was like is this it and I said a prayer,” Stewart said. “I saw the gun and he said ‘go behind the register and give me the money’.”
Read more from WRTV here
