East Chattanooga residents gathered last week at Purpose Point Community Health to share what they want in a neighborhood grocery store with representatives from the city of Chattanooga and several health-focused nonprofit organizations.
The neighborhood is again without a grocery store following the June closing of the Save A Lot grocery store that operated for nearly two years at 2300 Dodson Ave.
“One of the things that we are left with here is the building, the structure in this neighborhood, and so one of our goals is to figure out how to best utilize what we have,” said Kristi Wick, a clinical leader at Purpose Point Community Health, a clinic offering primary care and chronic disease management that focuses its efforts on boosting health in the East Chattanooga neighborhoods surrounding it.
Marvene Noel, who represents the area on the Chattanooga City Council, said the community needs access to healthy fruits and vegetables. As a pharmacist, Noel often fills prescriptions for people with chronic conditions that could be prevented with better nutrition, she said.