Grocery Store Auction Leaves Baltimore County Residents Hopeful For Food Access

DUNDALK, MD — A former grocery store building heads to auction Friday in Dundalk.

The opening bid is $200,000 for the old home of Heritage Food Market.

The supermarket has been closed for over a decade, WMAR reported, but the empty building still stands.

Residents want to see a grocery store fill the vacancy, relieving a supermarket-scarce area.

"We need a grocery store within walking distance. It's a shame we don't have one," lifelong Dundalk resident John Hollingsworth told WMAR.

The closest full grocers are Save A Lot and two Weis Markets, which are 34-, 38-and 45-minute walks away from Heritage Food.

The Heritage Food Market building is in the Dundalk Village Shopping Center next to Heritage Park. The store has 58 feet of frontage at 16 Center Place.

The building sits on roughly 0.83 acres, spans about 10,000 square feet and offers around 75 parking spaces. There are three walk-in refrigerators, two offices, a restroom and two trailer delivery access points.

Photos from the auction website show that the space needs repairs. The walls are damaged, and some ceiling panels are missing. The floor would likely need replacing.

"If this was open, it would bring people here, and it would bring money to the area," Dundalk native Cadeal Chase told WMAR.

The online auction, hosted by Towson's Alex Cooper Auctioneers, will be open until March 5 at noon. There's a guided tour of the property on Thursday from noon to 1 p.m.

The auction page is viewable here.

To see more community reactions, read WMAR's story.