Save A Lot returns to Chicago's West Garfield Park

CHICAGO (CBS) — Close to two years after Save A Lot announced renovation plans backed by city grants, the first of six stores has opened in West Garfield Park.

The store is one of the six that are supposed to open by Thanksgiving. Shoppers, though, are cautiously optimistic that the way the store looks today will stay this way.

"This community cannot sustain another grocery store leaving," said one resident. "We want every day to be like this. We want every resident to come in the store and for them to have stocked shelves for there to be cleanliness."

In West Garfield Park, dozens of customers explore the new Save A Lot grocery store, though they remember some of the old Save A Lot stores throughout the city and the problems that came with them, including concerns over rodents and a lack of fresh food.

"I know in the past there's been some product integrity issues, and the physical store conditions were some of the complaints that we've heard pretty frequently, and those were valid."

CBS News Chicago asked Yellow Banana CEO, Joseph Canfield. Yellow Banana runs dozens of Save A Lot stores across the country.

"We've got new refrigeration equipment. Some stores have new sprinkler systems, new floors, new LED lighting, and new security systems. The exterior of the stores has been redone," Canfield said.

The six new stores will be scattered across the city's South and West sides as part of a multi-million dollar city-funded deal to offer neighbors more grocery options.

"There have been places that have closed, kind of unceremoniously. We've put it together on paper a long-term deal with the city to commit to being in these neighborhoods," Canfield said.

Community groups, as well as the city, plan to monitor its business practices.

"The (Chicago) Department of Planning is always monitoring operationally what's going on. However, here in Garfield Park, the Garfield Park Community Council has stepped up to play that role. Because we want to make sure this store has what it said it was going to have and does what it says it's going to do. And respects the community as it respects the store," said 28th Ward Alderman Jason Irvin.

"If any of the six stores close in the next 10 years, the city said Save A Lot and Yellow Banana may have to pay back up to $13.5 million in grant money.