New Milwaukee grocery store to open in former Sentry Foods space

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Grocery store near 64th and Silver Spring

MILWAUKEE - A new grocery store will open on Milwaukee's north side next month, filling a recently vacated space as city leaders continue to grapple with what some have called a "food desert" crisis.

What they're saying:

During Tuesday's Common Council meeting, Ald. Mark Chambers announced that One City will open on April 3. The grocery store is taking over the building that Sentry Foods vacated near 64th and Silver Spring earlier this year.

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"I’d like to thank Viral Patel for his hard work and revitalizing that once-closed location and doing a quick turnaround on the supermarket," said Chambers. "For those residents in the immediate area, including Westlawn Gardens, we did it. We got the grocery store back open, and hopefully it will be bigger and better than ever."

When it opened in 2023, city leaders estimated the 64th and Silver Spring store would serve about 12,000 people within a one-mile radius who lacked access to a full-service grocery store at the time. A city report that year found 79% of residents lived within one mile of a grocery store, but roughly 122,000 lived farther than a mile.

Grocery store near 64th and Silver Spring

The backstory:

The Sentry Foods location was one of at least seven full-service grocery stores that had closed across Milwaukee County since 2025. It was one of two closures on Milwaukee's north side during that span.

In February, Mayor Cavalier Johnson announced a proposal to set aside roughly $1 million to help offset operational costs for independent grocers and pharmacies. The grant program would help with equipment needs and eligible start-up inventory.

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"Grocery store closures continue to be a problem across the city, and we have been leveraging partnerships in order to stem the current wave of closures," he said. 

The mayor said potential funding sources would include designated commercial dollars or tax-free legal settlement funds. Milwaukee already operates a Fresh Food Access Fund, but that program primarily supports efforts such as farmers markets and SNAP initiatives rather than direct help to brick-and-mortar grocers.

Ald. Russell Stamper was expected to present a resolution in early March over what he called "food apartheid." The resolution, which was pushed to an April committee meeting, would have declared a public health emergency that needs coordinated action from city leaders. Stamper also planned to propose an ordinance that would require grocery stores to notify the city clerk at least 60 days before ceasing operations.