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Key Food store in Newark closed it doors in December. Employees help clean up the store.

(Patti Sapone/The Star-Ledger)

NEWARK — The shelves are empty; the meat displays and deli, too.

Key Food on Springfield Avenue couldn't cut it in Newark.

It was only open for a year, closing for good in December.

"We had high expectations, but it just didn't work out," said Ray Ahmed, one of three co-owners of the New York-based franchise with 30 years in the business. "The business wasn't there."

If things had worked out, the store could have been another cog to plug the "food desert" in Newark, where residents in some neighborhoods rely on high-priced corner stores for groceries.

Ahmed said the co-owners faced a number of challenges, including construction delays that lasted two years and paying rent before they were able to open. The biggest problem, though, was not getting the license from the state to accept food stamps from the Women's Infants and Children's program for the low-income neighborhood.

"That really hurt us," Ahmed said. "The WIC accounts for about 15 percent of business."

He said they applied but were put on a waiting list and told the state only gives out a certain number of licenses. While they waited, business suffered and residents said they didn't shop there because the prices were high.

Ahmed disagrees, saying prices were competitive. He said they tried to keep the store afloat with money from the chain's New York stores but couldn't.

"We did what we know how to do," Ahmed said. "We're extremely disappointed. I guess the Key Food brand wasn't too popular over there."

Things seemed to be looking up at the grand opening in February 2013. There was music, balloons, speeches from then-Mayor Cory Booker and city officials, who said 30 of the store's employees were from Newark. The shelves were stocked, brimming with staples. Rows of colorful vegetables and fruits were the first thing you saw beyond the cash registers.

Everything was shiny and new until residents' reviews rolled in. They held onto their wallets and their noses when the prices went up and the quality of the food went down.

"The smell hit you as soon as you walked through the door," said Steven Wiley, a regular shopper.

Keith Grimsley says he shopped there once and saw meat for sale past its expiration date.

"You don't want to spend high prices for old food," he said.

H.C Brown checked it out twice and could see the store wasn't going to make it. There were never any crowds and the parking lot in the strip mall wasn't full. The laundromat and the Family Dollar store got more action.

Ahmed said his store was not foul and the meat section was its best department. He defended the brand, saying the store was state of the art with a fish market and fresh produce, items residents don't get in the area.

"That's just not true at all."

Several businesses have tried to make a go of it at that location over the past 30 years or more, but they all wound up closing for one reason or another. There was a liquor store, a shoe repair shop, two supermarkets and two auto part stores.

Dan Jennings, the city's acting director of economic development, said it's unfortunate Key Food didn't work out. He said the administration, however, still wants a supermarket at that location because residents there and in other parts of the city need access to good supermarkets.

A Food Depot, the city's first new full-scale supermarket in more than 20 years, opened in 2012 in the Central Ward. In October, Whole Foods signed a lease to set up shop in downtown Newark, and ShopRite is building a 67,000-square-foot store on Springfield Avenue near downtown.

If the Key Food could have made it, shoppers like Stella Jenkins said it would have been ideal for residents. It's on a major thoroughfare and within walking distance for families without cars.

"You can't come to a poor neighborhood with high prices," Jenkins said.

Oh well. Back to the corner stores and lengthy bus rides elsewhere until somebody gets it right.

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