It's been nine months since a Whitestone grocery store closed its doors. On Friday, dozens of concerned residents held a rally asking the new property owners to open another supermarket at the location. NY1's Leisha Majtan filed the following report.
When Waldbaum's on 10th Avenue in Whitestone closed last year, it really stung for many local residents.
"I felt like I had been struck a physical blow,. It really hurt," said Anthony Lofaso, a Whitestone resident.
"This was a godsend here. It was so easy," said Judy Densky, another Whitestone resident.
"Truthfully, it's been devastating," said Evelyn Apter, also a Whitestone resident.
The grocery store had been a staple in the neighborhood for 30 years. It was shut down in November after its owners, the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, filed for bankruptcy.
Months later, the space remains empty, prompting dozens of residents to rally with state Senator Tony Avella on Friday.
"We need a supermarket! That's the most important thing," said Angela Brill, a local resident.
Residents are now pressuring the new property owners, the Feil Organization, to turn the space back into a grocery store. They said having a grocery store at the location is vital resource to the aging population in the neighborhood.
"There are older people who would walk here. They would have their little carts and they would walk," Densky said. "Now, they have to get to Key Food, which is much further."
As time goes on, Avella said he also worries about the impact a vacant store can have on surrounding businesses.
"The supermarket is the draw. It brings people in. And while they're here, they maybe go to the nail salon, maybe they get a slice of pizza, maybe they go to the bank," Avella said. "But if it's not here, it's not a draw, and they'll go to other places."
NY1 reached out to the the Feil Organization multiple times for comment about the future of the old Waldbaum's. They have not returned our requests.