By Joshua Finn
Two months after the Booth Street Loeb’s closing, Centretown organizations are reaching out to those affected by its closure and looking for alternative uses for the building.
There is an option for fruit and vegetable delivery and a bus available to those in need. Some are investigating the possibility of a food co-op or a new grocery store to replace Loeb.
Jack McCarthy, executive director of the Somerset West Community Health Centre, says it recently set up a new Ottawa Good Food Box program pick-up site at an apartment building on Gladstone Avenue.
The program, supported by the Centretown Community Health Centre, allows residents to order a box of fruits and vegetables once a month, at a lower cost than at a grocery store.
Aileen Leo, chairperson of the health centre’s board of directors, now shops at Hartman’s Your Independent Grocer, where she runs into many former Loeb shoppers.
For Leo, the store’s loss means a longer walk to pick up groceries. She is concerned about how seniors and people with disabilities are coping since Hartman’s is more than a kilometre away from the Loeb site.
“It’s just a little bit more time commitment on my part, but for other people I can only imagine how difficult it is for them,” she says.
The Good Companions may offer a solution.
The organization provides programs and services for seniors and adults with physical disabilities. It has offered a free grocery bus service to Hartman’s for the past 16 years.
A school bus, sponsored by Hartman’s, picks up seniors from apartments at 280 Rochester St., 685 Gladstone Ave., and other residences along the route.
Carolyn Calder, community support services coordinator at The Good Companions, says about 10 new people have registered to use the service because of the Loeb closure.
She says there are still a few places remaining on the bus, but expanding the service is a possibility.
“If there was . . . a need in the community and we had a waiting list of seniors that wanted to use it, we’d definitely work with [Hartman’s] to see how we could help them,” Calder says.
Ann Leeder recently began using the grocery bus, having previously shopped at Loeb for 40 years. Leeder says its closure has affected many people.
“If I decide I want something for dinner, I [can’t] run around the corner and get it anymore,” she says.
Lorraine Wilson also says it was convenient to be able to walk to Loeb but describes the grocery bus as a wonderful alternative.
“They come right to your door and pick you up, they take your groceries home right to your door . . . and you’re with a lot of other people your own age,” she says.
While Hartman’s and other grocery stores may be a good alternative for some, McCarthy says for others, the alternative may be less nutritious and more expensive food at nearby convenience stores.
“When people are stuck they’re stuck . . . people may not always have the bus fare or don’t feel like lugging groceries on a bus. People will use the convenience store for the very purpose it’s there, it’s convenient,” says McCarthy.
The health centre is hoping to conduct a feasibility study to determine the viability of a food cooperative for Loeb’s former site.
It has made an application to the Community Economic Development Technical Assistance Program, a non-profit agency that provides grants to community organizations.
McCarthy says the centre should know by Feb. 1 whether it will receive funding, which would then allow it to research food co-ops more fully.
“We’d look at other jurisdictions where they have them, what makes them work, how could that be applied here . . . [and] what are the conditions for success,” says McCarthy.
While a co-op is one possibility, a new grocery store is another.
Brent Taylor, president of Brentcom Realty, has the listing for the property.
He says his company is targeting food stores, drug stores and general merchandise retailers to occupy the space.
“We’re dealing with a few grocery stores who have expressed preliminary interest,” says Taylor.
Taylor could not offer a timeline as to when residents will know for sure whether they can resume buying their groceries at the corner of Booth and Eccles.
He says the final decision will be based on market conditions.