BALTIMORE COUNTY, Md. — It's considered by many to be a 'food desert' - not readily served by grocery stores. But soon, on Liberty Road in Northwest Baltimore County, it could get easier to bring home groceries.
On Thursday, local leaders broke ground on a new Grocery Outlet Bargain Market at the site of a former Giant grocery store.
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"We're gonna have a grocery store, and that's an important thing because we needed it," said Shirley Supik, president of the Liberty Road Community Council.
Supik lives five minutes from the site and knows folks around the area who cannot drive and used to walk to the former Giant, just off Liberty Road on Milford Mill Road. A grocery store there served the community for decades but closed down a few years ago.
"When this closed, they had no place to go," Supik told WMAR. "The nearest store is too far away for them to walk, and they had to depend upon other people to bring them what they needed, or to buy at dollar stores or whatever was closest to them. It's important that this store is here for them."
Leaders put shovels in the dirt at the lot on Thursday, ceremoniously breaking ground on the soon-to-be grocery outlet.
"This development marks a significant milestone for our community, bringing fresh, affordable groceries and creating local jobs," Julian Jones, a Baltimore County Councilmember, said at the ceremony.
The development marks an addition to a stretch which has seen much subtraction, including another vacant grocery lot one intersection up the road. Over the last ten years, the area has lost five grocery stores.
Local leaders called it a 'huge step toward food security' in the area. About $2 million in county and federal funding is going to the development.
Leaders said the redevelopment would also include new utilities, landscaping, and public artwork.
"I think people should be watching Liberty Road," Supik added. "We're going to be doing good things, and good things are going to be happening here. And the community deserves it."
County Executive Johnny Olszewski told reporters the store is expected to be open by 2025.
