Nojaim Brothers Supermarket

December 16, 2017 - 8:22pm
How the closing of a local grocery store in Syracuse highlights the need for healthy food access in low-income communities across the United States.

On a chilly, wet November afternoon, residents of Syracuse’s Near Westside wait in a vacant parking lot to receive a box a free food from the Central New York Food Bank. Murmurs in Spanish, English, and other languages fill the air as residents trickle in from one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods. Many of those waiting demonstrate the struggles they’ve endured. Some are missing limbs. Others lack teeth. Some make their way to the front in wheelchairs and with canes. Others shield their children from the bitter winds under blankets.

November 1, 2017 - 3:30pm
The owner of the supermarket wants to work with the Syracuse City School District to bring jobs back to the Near West Side by using Nojaim Brothers Supermarket's building to house the district's soon-to-be-outsourced food services.

Following the closing of Nojaim Brothers Supermarket in October, which resulted in the loss of approximately 50 jobs, owner Paul Nojaim plans to put the building that housed the store to good use. He said that he put his building in a pool to be considered as a location for the central kitchen that will hold Syracuse City School District’s outsourced food services.