SOUTH TUCSON, AZ — The closure of South Tucson’s only grocery store is continuing to ripple through the community, leaving residents with fewer options for fresh food and increasing pressure on local food banks.
Food City, which had served South Tucson residents for decades at its location on South Sixth Avenue, shut its doors in October. Since then, many in the community have been forced to travel outside city limits to shop for groceries, a challenge for those without reliable transportation.
Casa Maria, a long-standing soup kitchen and food bank in the area, has felt the closure’s effects firsthand.
“Every day we go and pick up food, and one of the stores that gave us food was the Food City here in South Tucson,” said South Tucson City Councilor and Casa Maria worker Brian Flagg. “As our numbers are going up and we have a little less food because we don’t have Food City, that’s been hard.”
Kenneth Moore, a volunteer who once relied on the food bank himself, said the loss has cut their daily produce donations nearly in half.
“We were probably getting an estimate of maybe four to six boxes of produce a day there,” Moore said. “So that really cut back.”
Beyond food donations, city leaders say the store’s closure highlights a deeper issue: South Tucson’s reliance on sales tax revenue, including a 1.5% home food consumption tax, one of the few such taxes in the state. That tax, Flagg says, may have discouraged other grocery chains from setting up shop.
“In the city of South Tucson, we have a home food consumption tax, and the biggest, by far, entity that had to deal with that was the Food City,” Flagg explained.
Now, the South Tucson City Council is exploring ways to attract a new grocery store, including potentially lowering or eliminating that tax altogether.
“We need to do economic development, we need revenue for the city of South Tucson,” Flagg said. “So we would really like to get that spot filled. And one way we would do it is to take that food tax off whatever market, ideally, would go in there.”
Mayor Roxy Valenzuela says the council will release more details on the proposal Friday, November 14th, including when and how the city plans to take up the issue.
Meanwhile, Flagg and the team at Casa Maria are working to fill the gap left by Food City by reaching out to other grocery stores for donations.
“I’d like to find another store or two that would give us the food they would otherwise throw out,” he said. “But ultimately, we need a big grocery store here to serve our people.”
In the meantime, Flagg said Casa Maria is always in need of donations, especially cases of water, fresh fruit, coffee, sugar and cookies. For anyone looking to donate a turkey, Flagg said the Casa Maria staff makes excellent turkey soup.
Items can be dropped off at Casa Maria, located at 352 E. 25th Street. Monetary donations can also be made at Casa Maria's website.
Casa Maria is also gearing up for its annual Casa Maria Thanksgiving Benefit Concert held at Club Congress on November 14th. This year, the event features artists such as Rich Hopkins and the Luninarios, Salvador Duran and Oscar Fuentes.
Tickets and more information can be found at the Club Congress website.
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