As Tops shooting trauma lingers, questions about when – and where – the store will reopen

But what that reopening will look like and when it can occur are questions being asked by community stakeholders as Tops faces the daunting task of making over a store where dozens of bullets flew, leaving carnage inside and in the parking lot. The suspect is an 18-year-old white supremacist who drove over three hours from Broome County looking to kill Black people.

John Persons, Tops president, said the company’s “commitment to the community has not changed,” even as some difficult decisions lay ahead.

Some members of the neighborhood believe it would be impossible to reopen a store in the same location without once again traumatizing employees and customers.

But others say renovating would be the quickest and least expensive way to return a much-needed supermarket to a neighborhood that lacks other full service grocery stores.

Tops’ temporary absence creates the type of food desert present before the grocer opened a store there 20 years ago. A complete rebuild would prolong that issue. 

“We want to open the store properly, respectfully and honor the victims and survivors, and that will take some effort,” Persons said. “It is our obligation to do our best to understand that.”

Deacon Jerome Wright, vice chair of VOICE Buffalo, said there are people who will never go back into the store at that location, noting it would be impossible to fix all that happened there.

He believes there should be only a memorial at the site and Tops should be built at another location in the community. He used Sandy Hook Elementary as an example of a locality deciding to demolish the place where a tragic mass shooting occurred. 

Wright and other community activists have also called on other grocers to consider stores on Buffalo’s East Side.

“Sending people back into that place where people were massacred is the height of insensitivity,” he said. “You wouldn’t do it anywhere else. Bring in the resources we need without us having to focus on the carnage that just happened.”

Persons said Tops will lean on the input of store employees, some of whom he said are "afraid and anxious," as well as the advice of community members, before reopening. He’s also talked to officials in other communities who have gone through a similar experience to help figure out the best path forward.

“We want this store to be first-rate and a positive element to the community,” Persons said. “With everything that has happened, that’s difficult."

Since 2019, there have been at least three other mass shootings at retail stores – two of which were grocers. All three of those stores reopened in their same location but after massive overhauls were completed.

Twenty-three people were killed and nearly two dozen others injured in an Aug. 3, 2019, mass shooting at an El Paso, Texas, Walmart. The atrocity on the border city with Mexico was allegedly committed by a white supremacist – a 21-year-old at the time – who drove hours to El Paso to target Hispanics.

Ten people were killed, including a police officer, on March 22, 2021, at the King Soopers in Boulder, Colo. after a 22-year-old man opened fire inside the store.

On Sept. 23, 2021, one person was killed and 13 injured at a Kroger supermarket in Collierville, Tenn., where a 29-year-old man, who worked as a third-party vendor at the store, returned with multiple guns after being asked to leave.

Cassandra Hernandez, an El Paso councilwoman who attended the Walmart reopening three months after the incident, said she felt it was a needed “rebirth” for the community. She noted Walmart employees purposefully sought to open in the same location because many felt they did not want the shooter to win.

“He could not close a store. They wanted to be stronger than the fear,” Hernandez said. “There are some families that still can’t go there, but some have also showed up and said that they wanted to be a part of this.”

King Soopers spokesperson Jessica Trowbridge said during a news conference last year announcing the reopening of the store that the company considered community feedback in its redesign plan before reopening 11 months after the incident.

“We know that the building is just part of what makes this store so special and that restoring it is just another step in the journey ... as we continue to rebuild and heal,” she said at the time.

Trowbridge did not return a phone call from The Buffalo News requesting further comment.

Buffalo resident Jamie Lash used to work at the Jefferson Avenue Tops, cooking its fried chicken, and shopped there every day until the shootings. She wants the store to stay where it is.

“Keeping that store closed would be giving in,” she said. “I mean, we know what happened there. It will be a living memorial. But it has to stay.”

But that's not how everyone in the community feels. Tops “has no business reopening that store,” Whitney Walker of Faith in Action said.

Reopening these stores

The Walmart reopening brought about 1,000 shoppers in just the first few hours. Some of the workers at the store that employs about 400 handed customers black wrist bands with “El Paso Strong” in white letters.

Robert Evans, the Walmart store manager credited with saving lives on the day of the shooting, said in a statement, “We are touched by the overwhelmingly positive response from customers today. We expected that, naturally, there might be some hesitancy, but customers showed us clearly that they were ready for the store to reopen."

On Feb. 8 at King Soopers, grocery store employees and city officials gathered with the community outside of the newly redesigned store, considered a community hub like the Tops on Jefferson Avenue, for a reopening ceremony with more than 100 people in attendance. A workers strike held up the reopening, which had to be postponed several times.

The reopening was an important milestone for the community and “a big step for its progress,” according to City of Boulder Mayor Aaron Brockett.

“When everyone was able to walk back into the store it was such a powerful moment,” he said. “We were reclaiming the grocery store for the community. It was no longer just a site or trauma.”

In Collierville, hundreds of people, including local officials, celebrated Kroger’s reopening Nov. 10 about seven weeks after the mass shooting at that grocery store.

"This moment will not define us," Kroger spokesperson James Avant said that day. "It will in fact refine us, it'll make us better."

Kroger and Walmart officials also did not return a request for further comment.

Renovations a must

The refurbished stores where these mass shootings have occurred all included substantial changes to help make store employees and customers feel comfortable walking back in.

At King Soopers, some departments got bigger, lighting was improved and a mural called “A New Day” was painted for the vestibule at the entrance. Safety and security features were made as well, in addition to a new entryway, large windows and lifted ceilings.

The $4 million remodel of the Kroger included repaving of the parking lot, a freshly painted exterior, new décor, improved deli and produce sections and rebuilt walls. The store also now has security at the entrances.

At Walmart, the store was gutted inside and completely renovated, including putting in new floors and parking lot. The store's exterior was given a new coat of paint as well.

“You invest in it, and you make it better for your employees,” Hernandez said.

The Jefferson Avenue site was turned back over to Tops by law enforcement Friday, and Persons said the grocer planned to have experts in construction and environmental issues in there assessing the store’s condition. Tops plans to repair all the damage from the incident, as well as make upgrades to the store, he noted.

Persons said he feels obligated to balance being respectful of easing employees back into the work environment while trying to open as quickly as possible for the community. A handful of employees have asked to work at other locations but for those who do not feel comfortable doing so, Tops will continue to pay their salaries until the reopening, he added.

Still, even with a complete makeover, Michael Roberts, who lives on Buffalo’s East Side, said he can’t imagine Tops reopening the store in the same location. He noted families are still grieving.

"This is trauma,” he said.