Loss of Supermarket Jars Windsor Terrace

$899,000
151 Seeley St.
Single-family house with three bedrooms and 1½ bathrooms
Property Plus: Brick construction with an eat-in kitchen and backyard
Property Minus: The house could use updating.
Listing Agent: Victoria Bongiovi of Corcoran at 718-369-8788

The closing of Windsor Terrace's only supermarket last summer took many by surprise—including some who were never Key Food loyalists.

"I don't think we realized we were going to miss it until it closed," said Kaye Ea, who lives across the street from the shuttered store. "It wasn't the greatest grocery store around, but it was the most convenient."

But what has riled up many residents in the Brooklyn neighborhood is that the new store planned for the supermarket site—a Walgreens pharmacy that is expected to open in 2013—doesn't plug the hole caused by the loss of the Key Food. Windsor Terrace is home to a couple of mom-and-pop-style pharmacies but there aren't any other large food markets.

Without the Key Food, "It's been difficult, but especially so for older people who have had a hard time shopping at the bodegas," said Leonora Stein, owner of Babbo's Books, whose mother lives in the area and whose store prominently displays a "Boycott Walgreens" sign. "It's more expensive, they don't have everything and depending on where you live, even getting to bodegas is harder."

The supermarket, on Prospect Avenue near 11th Avenue, closed in June because the owner of the Key Food outlet decided to retire and then leased the space to Walgreens. "Other supermarkets would have loved the location but they can't afford rents," according to Brooklyn borough President Marty Markowitz,

While some of the younger families tend to patronize other nearby shopping options outside the neighborhood, the closure of the Key Food has created harships for Windsor Terrace's significant elderly population, said Mr. Markowitz, who lives in the area and was a Key Food customer.

"Younger people increasingly use Fresh Direct, but there's a huge market of people who are older in Windsor Terrace," he said. "I am 67 and there are loads of people near my age that only have the option to shop locally."

Mr. Markowitz noted the closing was being felt even though the now-shuttered store was having trouble keeping up with customer needs. "The Key Food that closed wasn't their top store—it was not renovated." he said. He called it "great for a fill-in" but the market "didn't have the produce or diversity that customers who live here now demand."

Local activists, including a group called "Green Beans Not Walgreens," have since held protests and petition-signings aimed at getting Walgreens to reconsider the use of the space and sharing the building with a full-service grocery store. A petition to boycott Walgreens drew thousands of signatures.

"Our goal to help ensure that the fresh food needs of the Windsor Terrace community are heard, addressed and met by Walgreens," said Steve LeVine, a volunteer with the Green Beans Not Walgreens group.

Walgreens says it is working on the issue and is in talks with a local grocer to jointly share the space. No final decision is yet to be made.

“We are currently negotiating with a grocer to provide a wider range of the kinds of food products that many in the community desire," said spokesman Robert Elfinger of Walgreen Co., which operates some 8,000 drugstores. He declined to elaborate on the talks but said the goal was to "to offer products and services that best meet the needs of Windsor Terrace."

Situated just south of Park Slope, the small neighborhood of Windsor Terrace has attracted many young couples and families over the past decade, often because of its relative affordability over its neighbor to the north. Brokers says young families buy one- and two-family houses, while young and middle-age singles and couples buy the co-ops.

With the Key Food gone, local bodega owners say business has picked up for them, with some looking to expand their operations.

"Everybody comes here and says we need a bigger space, a full market," says Sammy Tharma, the owner of Shop Smart on Prospect Park West, who has been trying to find a spot for a bigger market. "We have a lot of items but it's not enough."