ALLIANCE ‒ The loss of the StarkFresh grocery store will be a massive blow for the residents of north Alliance.
The small grocery store in The Alliance Commons at 405 S. Linden Ave. − the only one for miles − had become a bright spot for people living in an already struggling food desert.
The store gave residents a neighborhood option for fresh produce and affordable goods.
Now, their future is bleak.
StarkFresh, based in Canton, announced on June 30 that it will cease operations by Sept. 1 after 12 years in service. The Canton store was closed immediately. The Alliance store closes Aug. 15.
StarkFresh employee Krystal Fredrick stocks the shelves at the Alliance store on July 2, 2025. The Canton-based nonprofit will cease all operations by Sept. 1, 2025.
The nonprofit agency, focused on food equity in Stark County, cited financial and operational challenges that led to the decision to close down.
“Like many nonprofits, we found ourselves in a place where the funding just couldn’t keep pace with the needs we were trying to meet,” said Tom Phillips, executive director of StarkFresh.
Councilwoman King: ‘We’re going back to a food desert.’
The Alliance store opened in 2023, to serve one of the Carnation City’s most impoverished areas. About 73% of residents who live near it are impoverished. It has served about 11,400 people since it opened.
Prior to StarkFresh, the area had not had a full-service grocery store for four years. Most of the city’s grocery stores are miles away, on the southside.
“While unfortunate that StarkFresh is closing, it will not impact any other operations in the Commons. All other tenants are operating normal business hours,” said Abigail Honaker Schroeder, director of the Regula Center for Public Service and Civic Engagement at University of Mount Union, which manages The Commons.
Krystal Frederick, who works at the Alliance store, called the decision to close “really sad,” and said many shoppers were senior citizens from the low-income Alliance Towers complex, across the street from The Commons.
“A lot of them can’t or don’t have transportation or access to transportation to get to another grocery store,” she said. “The voucher programs helped everybody, and the free bread made the difference, too.”
Alliance Mayor Andy Grove was disappointed in the closure and said there is currently no replacement for StarkFresh for northside residents.
Andy Grove
“At this time there is no commitment to invest in a northside grocery store,” Grove said. “My administration is not giving up. We are staying on the project.”
Councilwoman Cindy King, D-2, who represents the StarkFresh area, said the grocery store helped residents in Ward 1 and Ward 2 with “what we needed.”
“It was still not enough. We need a regular grocery store with all items that a regular grocery store would carry besides fresh fruits and vegetables,” King said on July 1.
Alliance City Councilwoman Cindy King represents Ward 2.
However, she has doubts about a grocery store coming to the northside, because King said all of the commercial development is on the massive State Street.
“They want us to come out to State Street, but not everybody has the ability,” King said, because of child care and mobility issues.
She said a short-term solution could be a new transportation service − not a bus − that helps seniors and young parents get to grocery stores on State Street. She said she recently helped a young mother with a diaper bag, a stroller and an infant get on a bus. Now, she said, imagine that same mom also with groceries.
“I’m very disappointed, of course, and we’re going to go back to a food desert” with the end of StarkFresh in Alliance, King added.
Phillips: The northside ‘can support a grocery store’ with the right approach for sustainability.
Phillips said he believes north Alliance “can support a grocery store,” with the right approach for sustainability, because “the demand was definitely there.”
“People were using the store, especially those relying on food vouchers or EBT,” Phillips said.
“Many told us it was the first time they’d had a reliable place nearby to buy fresh produce or staple items without needing a ride or traveling out of town,” Phillips said. “That alone made it worth showing up every day.”
A StarkFresh cashier checks out a customer at the Alliance location in 2023, when it first opened.
Phillips conceded there were challenges.
For example, he said it was not easy to run a store that balances affordability with mission and operations, with inconsistent foot traffic, despite support.
“Like any small grocery store, margins were razor-thin,” he said.
The biggest hurdle was sustainability.
“We were offering lower prices and accepting food vouchers, intentionally trying to keep profit out of the equation to meet people where they were,” he said. “Without a steady stream of unrestricted funding, or a community ownership model with built-in support, it became hard to keep the shelves stocked and the lights on.”
StarkFresh offers free bread and free seeds to plant for shoppers at its Alliance store inside The Alliance Commons at 405 S. Linden Ave. The store, opened in 2023, will be permanently closed after Aug. 15.
Phillips said a future store there would need to blend business with mission, a co-op, with city support or part of a larger health or social service program.
“Because the need is there. The people are there. And with the right structure, I still believe something powerful could grow in that space,” he said.
“It’s hard to walk away from something that meany so much to so many. We didn’t just build a store, we built trust, relationships and a sense of belonging. Closing the doors doesn’t erase the impact, but it does leave a hole in the community, and in all of us who poured our hearts into this.”
Reach Benjamin Duer at 330-580-8567 or ben.duer@cantonrep.com. On X (formerly Twitter): @bduerREP.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Alliance mayor: No current replacement for StarkFresh on northside