BUFFALO, N.Y. — Closing of the Save-a-Lot in the Broadway Market may not be a done deal.
Store owner Ronald Horrigan said he is trying to keep the store open. He told 2 On Your Side that conversations with the market's manager and the city have been going well, but financial help is needed to keep the store going.
"The talk went really well. There are some things we're trying to work out and see if we can manage to get things done and keep the store open," Horrigan said. "I'm going to need some help money-wise because I keep putting my own money into the store to keep it open."
Horrigan says he loves his customers, but a few customers make it bad for everyone, and he couldn't keep up with the thefts.
Handwritten signs announced the news of the closing, and the almost bare shelves show an end is near. Councilman Mitch Nowakowski was adamant allegations of looting are not the cause, but according to Manager Destiny Bowden and the owner, it is.
"They come every which way. The cops do not come. You call them. They do not come. They'll be here half an hour or an hour later, and the person made it out of the store by now," Bowden said.
Horrigan has hired security in the past but said that didn't help.
"A lot of the time, they get in cahoots with the help, and then you got the help and the security stealing, or they have friends come into the store, and they let them steal," Horrigan said.
Horrigan said that since the pandemic, stealing has gotten worse.
"It's like they have a license to steal. After they steal they're like, 'The owner got insurance, that pays for this.' It doesn't pay for theft. That comes out of my pocket," Horrigan said.
Bowden says it's men, women, young, and old who are shoplifting, and that it happens five times a day, often ending in a fistfight.
If the store closes, that leaves Tops and Aldi in the area. In March, some Dollar General stores in areas known as "food deserts" started selling produce. U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand says they are eligible to expand, but something else may come our way.
"We've been talking to Buffalo Go-Green, and they are thinking about opening an East Side grocery store here, and we're trying to convince them to do it now," Gillibrand said.