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Furniture Store To Move Into Shuttered Walmart Space In Northeast Wichita

Nadya Faulx
/
KMUW/File photo
The market at 13th and Oliver was one of hundreds globally to close last year.

A furniture store, not a grocery store, will soon occupy the former Walmart Neighborhood Market in northeast Wichita.

Walmart closed several Neighborhood Markets in Wichita last year, including one at 13th and Oliver. American Freight, an Ohio-based furniture store known for low-cost items, will move into the space.

“We just really want to build up the business in that area and so we welcome American Freight to come in," says City Council member Lavonta Williams. "But we also have that desire and that need for groceries.”

The area is considered a food desert: a low-income neighborhood that is at least a mile away from a full-service grocery store. Williams, whose district includes the neighborhood around 13th and Oliver, says a store with fresh fruit and vegetables is still needed.

The former Walmart building sold at a lower price to a company that wanted a large space that required few renovations. American Freight is expected to open in a few weeks.

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Carla Eckels is assistant news director and the host of Soulsations. Follow her on Twitter @Eckels.

To contact KMUW News or to send in a news tip, reach us at news@kmuw.org.

Carla Eckels is Director of Organizational Culture at KMUW. She produces and hosts the R&B and gospel show Soulsations and brings stories of race and culture to The Range with the monthly segment In the Mix. Carla was inducted into The Kansas African American Museum's Trailblazers Hall of Fame in 2020 for her work in broadcast/journalism.