Gentrification? High-end retail to replace Cass Corridor’s only grocery store

Second Ave

Tomboy Market, a small grocery store that has served the Cass Corridor’s lower-income residents for years, closed Thursday and will be replaced with high-end retail, according to Curbed Detroit.

“You got to be kidding me,” Shirley Warwick said when she saw the “closed” signs on the door. “What now? Where am I supposed to get my food?”

The closest grocery store is now Whole Foods, which Warwick said she can’t afford.

The Cass Corridor and Midtown, where the highest concentration of the city’s homeless and mentally ill population lives, are undergoing a rapid transformation. New condos are being built. Restaurants, bars and even a high-end barber shop are opening.

Midtown Inc. confirmed that high-end retail will replace Tomboy Market, which won’t be missed by everyone.

The store has been accused of selling expired meat and always had an acrid smell.

It’s unclear how much the owners received in the sale. They were asking $650,000 in December 2013.

Steve Neavling

Steve Neavling lives and works in Detroit as an investigative journalist. His stories have uncovered corruption, led to arrests and reforms and prompted FBI investigations.

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