SOPCHOPPY, Fla. (WTXL) — After months, people living in Sopchoppy finally have a place to get fresh fruits and vegetables just down the street from their homes.
Dollar General started selling the produce to help aid in the area's lack of food access.
Wesley Stevenson lives in Pancea and currently drives 40 miles round trip to get fresh groceries.
He said the addition of fruits and vegetables to the Dollar General is not going to be able to serve everyone's needs in the community.
"It is a food desert. There is no food unless you grow it. Like you say, the closest place is 20 miles," Stevenson said.
This is his new norm after the Sopchoppy Grocery on Rose Street closed earlier this year.
In an effort to help, the only Dollar General store in Sopchoppy is now adding fresh fruits and vegetables to their stock at the request of the city's mayor, Lara Edwards.
Included in a statement from Dollar General, Edwards says this will help people who cannot drive miles for groceries and will bring "...added convenience of having fresh produce."
That Dollar General now serving the areas of Panacea and Sopchoppy.
A spokesperson for Dollar General wrote in a statement that the store is working to aid food desert communities and "....every Dollar General offers components of a nutritious meal."
Stevenson said this is not the solution.
"Dollar general will never be a grocery store," Stevenson said. "They are not staffed or trained for that and never will be."
Stevenson said he may have the answer.
"A co-op, a seven day a week, brick and mortar store could go well, but I believe it needs to be on 98 in Panacea to be commercially viable," Stevenson said. "And I've been working with a lot of people to try and get that going."
Stevenson has held public meetings with others living in the area to try and get the idea off the ground.
He said he can't do it alone.
"I need people to step up and help out. Not invest, there is no money needed to do this. Just a little time for some people to some research," Stevenson said.
