Sentry Foods closure; Milwaukee north side grocery access in question

MILWAUKEE - A third grocery store chain has announced a closure on Milwaukee’s north side, raising renewed concerns about food access in the area.

Store set to close

What we know:

Sentry Foods, located near 64th Street and Silver Spring, has alerted customers that the store will be closing. The location opened in fall 2023, with city leaders at the time estimating it would serve about 12,000 people within a one-mile radius who lacked access to a full-service grocery store.

Now, with the store preparing to shut down, shoppers are questioning what comes next for the neighborhood.

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Inside the store, shelves were noticeably thinning as the remaining inventory was marked 40% off.

"It’s starting to empty. Yeah, it’s emptying, yes it is," said Lemuel Cannon, a shopper.

Customers were greeted by a sign from management stating, "This decision was not made lightly. Many factors were carefully considered before coming to this difficult decision."

Community concerns grow

Local perspective:

Brandon Haney, who lives nearby, said he remembers when the store first opened but is not surprised by the closure.

"I was kinda surprised, but I’m not because they do have a lot of issues within this store," said Haney.

Haney said those issues included concerns about food quality.

"One being food being expired, two being me finding feathers inside of my chicken," he said.

Haney worries the closure could push the area closer to becoming a food desert.

"All these people don’t have transportation, so that they can go out and grocery shop whenever they want to," he said. "They would have to put systems in place like getting an Uber, which can cost extra money."

Part of a larger trend

Big picture view:

The Sentry Foods closure follows other recent grocery shutdowns on the city’s north side. An Aldi near Sherman and Custer closed abruptly last week. Last summer, Pick ’n Save announced the closure of five locations countywide, including one on the north side.

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"It’s sending the message that, as far as our stores and all that stuff, for our convenience in our hood, it’s not getting better," said Cannon.

Employees inside the Sentry Foods store said they were unsure of the exact closing date. Hours have already changed, and the store is currently not accepting card payments.

Attempts to reach the owner of the location have not been returned.

"If this is closing then I don’t know the next step because it took them a while to even get this Sentry out here," Haney said.

MilwaukeeNews