The West Boulevard Neighborhood Coalition’s effort to bring a grocery co-op to a Charlotte community termed a food desert has yet to materialize, and the project is short on funds.
Organizers with the coalition said they started strategizing to fill a void of a grocery store in the community in 2015, to bring the Three Sisters Market to the West Boulevard corridor. The area has been without a full-service grocery store for more than 30 years. But that void has yet to be filled. WFAE previously reported that construction for the Three Sisters Market was expected to start last year, but that has yet to occur.
“It’s hard to get community buy-in, it’s hard to help people understand a different model,” said Janiqua Jackson, a general manager with Three Sisters Market. "It’s hard to make those who have not cared for over 30 years, make them care about a community that they have otherwise turned their head.”
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A co-op model provides community members with an opportunity to have ownership in the grocery store — something the corridor has lacked. A 2015 report by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Food Policy Council highlighted the West Boulevard corridor and two other low-income communities as high-risk areas for food insecurity due to a lack of full-service grocery stores. To help address a community problem, the city of Charlotte in 2023 approved $1.5 million in funds to help develop the co-op that's expected to be near Clanton Road and West Boulevard.
Mecklenburg County has also committed $3.25 million toward the project, with an additional $750,000 coming from the 12th Congressional District's Community Project Funding. So far, the coalition has raised about $6 million for the co-op, with other funds coming from donations and grants. But a majority of those funds were allocated a few years ago.
Initially, the Three Sisters Market was estimated to cost $10 million, but those behind the project now say the cost exceeds that estimate. As for how those behind the project plan to raise the additional funds, Jackson said,
“We're having capital campaign conversations, looking for philanthropy and private dollars. We will also continue on grant funding.”
The coalition said it now hopes to start construction by the end of this year and open at the end of 2026.
