Business at Nojaim Brothers Supermarket on the Near Westside seemed to continue as normal one Saturday afternoon earlier this month.

Customers, a few in electric mobility scooters, carried out bags of groceries. Some walked in from the public housing development across the street. Others smoked cigarettes and chatted in the parking lot.

The store was busy, but shelves inside were about half-empty. They won’t be fully restocked.

When customers clear out the remaining groceries, Nojaim Brothers Supermarket — which has supplied fresh produce and healthy food to the Near Westside community for nearly 100 years — will close its doors.

“This store for me is everything,” said Lillian Martins, a Near Westside resident who has shopped at Nojaim Brothers for 23 years. “I pray to God it won’t close. The community here depends on this store.”

In a letter to employees earlier this month, Paul Nojaim, the store’s owner, said the supermarket was “unable to remain financially viable,” Syracuse.com reported.

Many community members said they thought competition from the government-subsidized Price Rite and other stores in the area put Nojaim Brothers out of business. Nojaim did not respond to a request for comment for this story, and his employees declined to comment on the store’s closure.

The sudden announcement of the supermarket’s shuttering has stirred anxiety among Near Westside residents who fear the neighborhood could become one of Syracuse’s “food deserts” — an area without affordable, fresh food options within a reasonable walking distance.

“There’s a supermarket way down that way,” said Laura McDaniel, a Near Westside resident, as she pointed south down a street next to Nojaim Brothers. “But if you don’t have a car, how the hell are you going to get down there?”

The Near Westside’s two closest supermarkets, including a Price Rite that opened in April, are each located about 1 mile to the west and south. Many residents in the area, though, can’t travel to them by car.

About 34 to 50 percent of households in the area near Nojaim Brothers lack access to a vehicle, according to an Onondaga County Health Department report published this summer.

The county report also showed about half the city is considered a food desert. Food deserts, according to the report, are census tracts where the poverty rate exceeds 20 percent and at least one-third of residents live more than half a mile away from the nearest supermarket.

Molly Bolan | Contributing Photographer

Parts of the Near Westside were labeled food deserts, including areas immediately west and south of Nojaim Brothers. All zip codes in Syracuse contained food deserts, according to the report.

Evan Weissman — an assistant professor in Syracuse University’s David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics, who has worked with food access projects in the city — said geographic and economic factors affect the impact of food deserts on city residents.

“I don’t live in close proximity to a full-service grocery store, but that does not impede my ability to adequately provide for myself and my family because I have adequate economic resources,” Weissman said.

About half of Near Westside residents live below the poverty line, per the county report.

The James Geddes Housing Development, a public housing complex across the street from Nojaim Brothers, will be hit hardest by the closure, said Sheena Solomon, director of the Near Westside Initiative, a community development organization working in the area near Nojaim Brothers.

James Geddes residents are primarily seniors, many of whom have disabilities and don’t drive, she said.

“These people shop from wheelchairs,” said Eugene Wade, a Nojaim Brothers customer.

Without the supermarket, many said they believe residents could turn to corner stores — small convenience stores that generally offer nonperishable, processed foods.

That could be a health risk, some experts said.

Heather Schroeder, an economic development program manager for the Downtown Committee of Syracuse and a member of the Syracuse Invest Health Team, said corner stores are a “poor substitute” for fresh, healthy foods.

“You don’t have as much options as a consumer,” Schroeder said, adding that healthy foods may not be as affordable or convenient.

There is one corner store for every 573 residents living downtown and in the Near Westside neighborhood, according to the county report. That is “by far” the highest rate in the city, the report stated.

The Near Westside is part of a section of the city that has the “poorest health outcomes” and highest rates of poverty among children, according to the report.

“Compared with the rest of the city, parts of downtown, the northern part of the South Side and the Near Westside all have higher rates of obesity, diabetes and certain heart problems,” Schroeder said.

Molly Bolan | Contributing Photographer

Weissman said Nojaim Brothers tried to offer products that were good for the community’s health.

“They certainly had an extensive selection of culturally appropriate foods and produce,” he said.

Weissman added that the store might have had the largest selection of Goya products outside the Bronx.

As customers strolled in and out of the store earlier this month, McDaniel, the Near Westside resident, stood outside with a clipboard, pen and sheet of paper in hand. A handful of names were scribbled on the paper.

She was collecting signatures to petition to keep the store open even though she said it might not be of any help.

“We’ve got to keep this store open,” McDaniel said. “We’ve got to try.”

Published on September 27, 2017 at 11:32 pm

Contact Jordan: jmulle01@syr.edu | @jordanmuller18