Randallstown NAACP Aims To Eradicate Food Desert in Owings Mills: Community Leaders Seek To Restore Accessible Grocery Store At New Town Village Shopping Center

OWINGS MILLS - Local officials and community leaders are looking to eliminate the food desert surrounding a shopping center in eastern Owings Mills.

The New Town Village Shopping Center has been without a grocery store since Giant closed in 2019, leaving residents with no healthy and affordable food sources within walking distance.

"I just moved there to the senior building, and I really need a market because no buses come around here," resident Tammy Stokes told WBAL.

The Randallstown NAACP, Baltimore County Police, and county officials recognize the urgency and want to return an anchor grocery store to the shopping center.

"The New Town Village Shopping Center is vital to the success of the greater New Town Community and Baltimore County. The Randallstown NAACP has pulled together a group of community, business, and government leaders to ensure the success of this shopping center." Randallstown NAACP President Ryan Coleman said in a statement.

The group toured the New Town Village Shopping Center on Monday. Coleman said he is working with the county executive's office to get the ball rolling on a new grocery tenant.

"The sense of urgency is the collapse of the community here, this is a middle to upper-middle-class African American community that's vital, and we want to keep it that way, Coleman said.