WATTS : Residents Protest Plan to Change Supermarket
Angry that a supermarket closed since the riots has not reopened, about 50 Watts residents Wednesday night protested plans by the food chain that owns Boys Markets to reopen the store as a grocery warehouse.
“The bottom line is we want a full-service supermarket, not a warehouse-type operation,” said Davis L. Rodgers, president of the Watts chapter of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People.
The Boys Market in the Martin Luther King Jr. shopping center, at 103rd Street and Compton Avenue, has been closed since it was looted on April 29. The food chain that owns Boys has said it intends to reopen the store as a Food 4 Less grocery warehouse.
But opponents say a warehouse operation would inconvenience elderly residents who cannot bag their own groceries, and reduce employment opportunities. Officials of the grocery company could not be reached.
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