Southsider Vickie Mitchum once relied on Safeway in Garfield Park to buy groceries when she was raising her eight children. It’s one of the few places she could buy meat in bulk, and the staff made her feel welcome.
“I would always stay at Safeway, because I like the people there,” Mitchum said. “It seemed like we grew to be a family.”
Her kids are adults now, but she still shopped there occasionally. But Garfield Park’s long-standing grocery store on Shelby Street is shuttering after around 80 years; roughly the last half of which it’s been called Safeway.
“Over the years, the area has changed and rising operating costs, ongoing construction and other challenges have made it increasingly difficult to continue at this location,” the store’s owners wrote in a social media post. “We are incredibly grateful to our loyal customers, employees and neighbors who have supported us throughout the years.”
The owners could not be reached for comment. The post did not give an exact closing date. Staff hope to slow operations and sell most of its inventory, according to the post. The Safeway was still open as of the weekend.
The Safeway, 2176 Shelby St., is unaffiliated with the California-based grocery chain of the same name.
Property records indicate the building was constructed in 1940. It’s been a grocery store since the 1940s and has operated under several names including Preston-Safeway in the mid 1980s and then Safeway, according to the IBJ.
There are four other local Safeway locations that remain open.
Safeway continues to operate four Indy locations:
5602 N. Illinois St.
3008 W. Kessler Blvd.
2435 N. Sherman Drive
5040 E. 16th St.
A longtime coming
Feelings are mixed about the closure.
Safeway has been a neighborhood staple for residents like Rayschelle Capps. She remembers walking to the grocery store with her father so they could buy ingredients to make s’mores.
The store now has fond memories for her son, Maxon Mulroney, who played with the Safeway’s claw machine and coin-operated mechanical horse ride. He still loves to purchase the franchise’s popular fried chicken.
Capps said the pending closure is a disappointment to her entire family, which relies on the store’s close proximity.
“My grandfather is really sad because that’s the only store he was able to walk and get his groceries,” Capps said. “Now he has to find another way to the store.”
Many residents have good memories of the local grocer, but they also said they weren’t surprised it’s closing.
The area is starting to gentrify with new breweries, a museum and other businesses popping up. Much of the change has occurred on the other side of Raymond Street, though, away from the grocer.
Many residents said the area near the Safeway has gone downhill as non-customers linger outside the store, sometimes next to entrances. Mitchum said that, and high prices, are one of the reasons she stopped going to Safeway as frequently.
“Nobody wants to be bothered going in the store,” said Mitchum, who now shops more frequently at Kroger.
Vince DeBernardi, who lived in Garfield Park in the ‘90s and continues to live on the south side, said Safeway was vital because he was able to stack grocery bags onto the handlebars of his 10-speed bike when he didn’t have a car. Over time, though, DeBernardi said the store hasn’t aged well.
“I remember it being clean and efficient back then,” DeBernardi said. “I went in there maybe a year ago and it looked pretty rundown. Half the meat cases were closed and broken down, it just had a general aged, dirty look to it. The floors were unkempt and broken up. I thought it was really sad because they had let it go so bad.”
Amanda Bass, a former employee who grew up in Bates-Hendricks, said the store has always had problems. She said the small selection and quality of the meat and produce is why she wasn’t shocked the store is closing.
The county health department partially suspended the store location’s food license and discontinued production in the deli July 29, for pest and rodent problems. Food safety violations were still present Aug. 6, but the department allowed Safeway to resume operations Aug. 13, according to online health reports.
“They always had a pest problem,“ Bass said. “So frequently you would get loaves of bread, pick up produce items that had holes chewed in them from mice or bugs or what have you. It was a common issue.”
Will Garfield Park become a food desert?
Ahead of the closure, Unai Miguel Andres, an analyst with the Indiana University School of Medicine, said he would consider Garfield Park to have low food access. Andres’ speciality is in inequities in food, housing and the impacts on health.
He said the area’s ongoing gentrification prevents Garfield Park from being labeled a food desert. But while some of the newcomers can drive themselves to a nearby grocery store, he said many longtime residents still living there may struggle with transportation and will have trouble buying groceries. There’s an Aldi at Madison and East Troy avenues, Andres said, but it could be a trek for some of the most vulnerable.
“It might not be a food desert, but you still need to look at who’s getting affected by disclosure. Traditionally, Safeways have been frequented by minority populations, for example, lower income earners.”
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Mirror Indy reporter Elizabeth Gabriel covers the south side of Marion County. Contact her at elizabeth.gabriel@mirrorindy.org. Follow her on X at @_elizabethgabs.
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