2 weeks Ago
Georgette Koorie, who immigrated to the United States from Lebanon in 1966, has lived in Easton’s West Ward for 56 years. Koorie doesn’t drive, so she relies on her husband, George, to take her grocery shopping at ShopRite in Phillipsburg or Bethlehem.If she only needs a few items, perhaps some milk, she used to walk to the local Rite Aid — but it closed in 2023.
Koorie is not alone among her neighbors who struggle with food inaccessibility, but a new market coming to the West Ward could make their lives much easier.Ideal Food Basket is scheduled to open this summer at Ninth and Northampton streets, giving residents like Koorie access to a grocery store within walking distance.Koorie said the new market “will be very convenient for me and for all the neighborhood.
I’m very happy. I’m sure it’s going to be nice for the neighborhood, for the people.”Ideal Food Basket manager Alvis Diaz said Rite Aid’s closing was the perfect opportunity to open a grocery store in the West Ward.
The chain is a cooperative of independent food grocers in New York, Florida, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. Since it began in 2007, it has grown to 70 stores, according to its website. Locally, it has a location in South Side Bethlehem, and in addition to the Easton store, plans to open a location this fall in East Stroudsburg.
Ideal Food Basket plans to open this summer in Easton’s West Ward. Photo taken Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)Tanya Ruiz, manager of the West Ward Community Initiative, which supports community revitalization activities in the neighborhood, noted that many people rely on public transportation to get groceries because they do not have a vehicle of their own.
“There are a ton of people that don’t drive in the neighborhood, whether they just have never driven before or they’re elderly or disabled,” Ruiz said. “I’m hoping that this grocery store will help [them] become a little bit more independent.”Malia Borges, an advocate for community development, has lived in the West Ward since 2006 and is looking forward to the convenience the store will offer.
“Sometimes I end up ordering from Target or Sam’s [Club] just because they can deliver,” Borges said. “But having Ideal Food Basket, if it is on my way, then I can just go there and not have to spend ridiculous money on delivery fees.”While the neighborhood is home to small corner markets and bodegas, these stores often carry only nonperishable items and do not offer a full range of nutritious and healthy options.
Residents also note that corner store goods often are more expensive.Many West Ward residents instead rely on Aldi, Lidl and Grocery Outlet, which all are 2 miles from the neighborhood.There have been efforts to alleviate food inaccessibility in the West Ward over the last decade.
In 2019, the West Ward Community Plan established goals for the community, including helping the neighborhood’s estimated 10,000 residents access a range of affordable, healthy food.Easton Garden Works runs seven community gardens, and the Easton Area Community Center provides lunch for senior citizens Tuesdays through Thursdays, and food giveaways on Thursdays for seniors throughout the city.Lawrence Malinconico, associate professor of geology and director of the Tech Clinic at Lafayette College, was a faculty adviser for a 2012 study, “Plowing Food Deserts in the West Ward: Sowing Seeds for a Healthy Future.
” While “food deserts” is now considered a dated term, he said, the idea still is “incredibly valid.” “The economic reality has been that up until now, grocery stores decided that it probably wasn’t going to be profitable to have a grocery store in the West Ward,” he said.One effort to fill that hole is the West Ward Market, a public farmers market open 3-7 p.
m. Wednesdays from May 7 to Oct. 15 on 12th and Northampton streets.
Malinconico acknowledged the market is a solution to the food access problem, because it provides locally sourced, fresh produce and accepts Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program/Pennsylvania EBT, but he said its limited hours are a problem.“The grocery store is the solution, quite honestly,” Malinconico said. “The one thing that I’m always a little cautious about is cost.
My hope is that this new market will attempt to make things affordable for the clientele they’re trying to serve.”With the increasing cost of food, he’s not alone in worrying about prices.Koorie and her husband raised seven boys and she invites them and her grandchildren over for lunch on a weekly basis.
The rising prices of staples like red meat, chicken and eggs, are alarming, she said.Even if Ideal Food Basket is within walking distance, she said she would travel a farther distance for reasonable prices. Other residents echoed these sentiments.
“I’m the person who likes to cook for the whole family, so you need the stuff for cooking,” Koorie said. “I’m a big saver. I watch the prices.
”Diaz, the Ideal manager, said the co-op’s size lets it keep prices low. It also accepts SNAP/EBT and Over-The-Counter cards.Borges, the community development advocate, also worries what Ideal might mean for the community the West Ward Market has built.
“Sometimes we go to the West Ward Market just to see each other,” Borges said. “If this market comes, would it compliment the [West Ward] Market? That would be my hope that there would be more collaboration than pulling people away from there.”Diaz said he believes the market and Ideal can coexist, and sees possibilities for collaboration in the community once the store is up and running.
Ruiz also wants that. She envisions a corner store initiative, where Ideal would supply corner stores with fresh produce. Despite her concerns, Ruiz thinks a full grocery is a positive step for the neighborhood.
“I’m grateful because there’s a big sense of community here and everyone cares,” she said. “It’s all coming together ..
. so I’m just excited to be part of the change and see the positive aspects coming.”Vivian Rachelle Milan is a freelance writer.
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