PEORIA MAGAZINE June 2022

S P O T L I G H T

AN OASIS IN THE DESERT Minister, his market, aim to resurrect Peoria’s South Side

BY PHIL LUCIANO

T he Rev. Chuck Brown plans to offer more than milk, bread and sandwiches at Harvest Supermarket & Grill. He also plans to serve respect. To him, the store’s bottom line involves not just dollars, but dignity. And he expects his employees to feel the same. “There’s going to be ‘How can I help you?’ and ‘Thank you,’” Brown said. “I want to embrace the community with the love it deserves.” His lofty ambitions go beyond aiming to end the food desert on Peoria’s

South Side. He hopes Harvest, which is to open by early summer, can spark other entrepreneurs to invest along and around Western Avenue, a main thoroughfare in the long-flagging area. Meantime, hewill earmark some profits toward programs to uplift single moms and build affordable housing. “To change the narrative of the area, we’ve got to step up,” he said. For more than half the 20th century, the neighborhood served as the thriving core of Peoria. But by the 1960s, with housing stock aging and no room to expand, South Peoria began to

deteriorate. New housing drew many residents north, especially after the city’s 1964 annexation of Richwoods Township. Crime on the South Side, including a crack cocaine explosion in the 1980s, also hurt the area, and many businesses moved or shuttered. The neighborhood, once dotted with mom-and-pop shops, saw grocery stores dwindle at the approach of the 21st century, and that has continued. In 2014, Aldi, a solid presence at 210 S. Western Ave. since its 1989 debut, pulled out. Two years later, Sav-A-Lot turned the lights back on but departed within a year.

14 JUNE 2022 PEORIA MAGAZINE