KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Residents of Kansas City’s east side are eager to welcome a new 16,000 square foot ALDI grocery store on Monday. The grocer will be located at 39th and Prospect in Kansas City, Mo.
The Ivanhoe Neighborhood and surrounding area is considered a ‘food desert’ — a place where residents don’t have easy access to affordable, healthy food options. In a food desert convenience stores and liquor stores are typical choices for people to buy food.
Reece Freeman has lived in the area nearly all his life.
“I see how they’ve got it all guarded in and it’s good,” he said. “It makes me prouder of the area, I mean it looks great! I mean, this is within walking distance. You won’t even have to get on the bus to do what you got to do.”
Freeman says right now most residents have to catch a bus or pay for a cab to the closest grocery store in Westport, which is miles away. Freeman said he hopes the grocery store leads to future development in the area. He also thinks the store will help keep troublemakers away.
“I think it’s going to keep crime down because they’re going to have to provide a lot of security over there for that, and that’s going to help this area over there,” he said. “It’s going to get a lot of the kids off the streets. It’s going to stop all the hanging around and all that stuff.”
ALDI markets itself as a store that sells high quality grocery items at incredibly low prices. And the store opening doesn’t just mean healthier options for residents, it also means more jobs. ALDI has pledged to hire people from the neighborhood for some of the more than dozen jobs the store will create.
Mayor Sly James will be among many city leaders at Monday’s grand opening. It starts at 8:30 a.m. at 3830 Prospect in Kansas City.