Birmingham Council Approves Incentives Package To Bring Grocery Store To District 1
The Birmingham City Council has approved an incentives package to bring a new grocery store to the city’s Roebuck neighborhood as part of a larger initiative to reduce food deserts in Birmingham.
The agreement will include an initial payment of $200,000, then up to an additional $1.6 million, based on the store’s performance, spread out over seven years.
The store, tentatively named The Price Butcher, will be at 1125 Huffman Road, the former location of a Sav-A-Lot, and will “double the amount of fresh produce in the area (and) double the sales area for meat,” Josh Carpenter, the city’s director of innovation and economic opportunity, told the council during a Monday night committee meeting.
“It’s going to expand the food options for the citizens of District 1,” Carpenter said.
The initial $200,000 payment will come from the city’s healthy food initiative, which was created last year to attract new grocery stores to areas of the city that don’t have them. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 69% of Birmingham residents live in food deserts. An East Lake grocery store, Village Market, was given a similar incentive package last year to upgrade its facilities.
Carpenter described the process of bringing the new store to Roebuck as “a year-and-a-half-long courtship” with Dan’s Inc., the company that will manage the store. Attorney Randall Minor, representing the developers, told the council that the building would require “light renovation” but that the store should be open to the public “before Christmas.”
District 1 Councilor Clinton Woods said he hopes the new store will make the shopping center, which is next to Huffman High School, “a true anchor in the community.”
“I think they’ve found a good structure that creates a really good partnership between us,” he said during Tuesday’s meeting. “The one consistent thing I heard (from residents when I took office) was, ‘We don’t have a grocery store at all!’ To see that actually happen and all come together … . I think that’s incredible.”
The council unanimously approved the agreement.
The city of Birmingham also declared this year’s Election Day, Nov. 3, as a one-time unpaid holiday for city employees. City Hall will be closed and the city council meeting scheduled for that day will be pushed to Wednesday, Nov. 4.
In 1985, famine led to Live Aid and a U.S. alert plan. Trump froze it. Now it’s back
It's the 40th anniversary of the superstar concert to raise money for an Ethiopian famine — and of the creation of a U.S. program called FEWS NET to prevent future famines.
With replay review and ‘robot umps,’ who is still trying to become an MLB umpire?
Between replay review, automated balls and strikes and viral lowlights on social media, the work of baseball umpires has been transformed by technology. But none of that has deterred aspiring umpires.
High prices and healthcare costs may turn Latino voters away from Republicans in 2026
Latino voters helped deliver the White House to President Trump in the last election but many of them already say they won't vote for Republicans next year, but they aren't yet turning to Democrats.
Inside one of the most understaffed immigration courts in the country
The Chelmsford, Mass., court has hemorrhaged judges, a consequence of the Trump administration's seemingly contradictory efforts to downsize the federal government and increase immigration arrests.
Help is growing for the heavy emotional toll cancer takes on young men
Coping with cancer and its aftermath isn't easy for anyone. But men tend to isolate more, seek less support and, alarmingly, die earlier than women. Young survivors are working to change that.
With midterms more than a year away, a record number of lawmakers are eyeing the exits
A record number of Congressional lawmakers have announced they don't plan to run for their current seats in 2026, including three sitting senators leaving Washington to run for governor.