In three days, a Price Rite supermarket will open on Syracuse's south side in a neighborhood that hasn't seen a full-service grocery store in nearly 47 years.
Jubilee Homes founder Walt Dixie said years of persistence and a bit of luck will finally culminate in Sunday's ribbon cutting at the store on the corner of South and Bellevue Avenues. He said building the relationship with Price Rite was critical.
"Their model is not necessarily in urban cities, but in suburban development, that's where you do the boulevard and that. So this really wasn't in their plan of their future development," Dixie said.
Dixie said seed money from the state, county, and city as well as collaborations with neighborhood non-profits made it more enticing for Price Rite to see it through. He said their relationship is unprecedented on many levels.
"Working with them in their hiring, their training workshops, really helping the employees understand this is your store and we need to be the best employees," Dixie said.
Dixie said that gives the workers and the neighborhood a sense of ownership.
"They have hired over a hundred folks that look like us, that live in this neighborhood, so that's the beauty of this," Dixie said. "When I talk to some of the guys working, they are on Rich Street, they are on Lincoln Avenue, they are on Bellevue Avenue. There is somebody on the block working at Price Rite. That's a powerful message."
Some are concerned with sustainability. Supermarkets work on thin margins, especially deep discounters like Price Rite. Dixie said marketing studies show accessibility and density are working in their favor.
"You see many buildings of apartments, so it is a lot cluster in this area, and there has been development. We've built over a hundred homes in the neighborhood and it's very convenient," Dixie said. "Can you imagine walking out of your house, and three blocks down, there is a supermarket."
The new store opens Sunday morning at eight. The ribbon cutting will be held at 2 p.m..
