Fourth Street Market Closed After 40 Years

Grocery Store's Closing May Cause Food Desert in Central Hillside

DULUTH, Minn. – The Fourth Street Market in Duluth’s Central Hillside neighborhood has closed its doors, possibly for good.

Fourth Street Market is now closed after more than 40 years in its current location on the corner of Fourth Street and First Avenue East. There is concern that the grocery store’s closing could cause a food desert in the Central Hillside community.

Whole Foods Co-Op is five blocks from the Fourth Street Market location, with the next closest grocery store, Plaza Super One, almost a mile and a half away.

“It provided that opportunity within walking distance for a lot of folks that now they might have to bus, or drive, or walk even longer to get groceries,” says Cliff Knettel, Deputy Director of One Roof Community Housing, which is located across the street from Fourth Street Market.

The Hurlbut-Zeppa Charitable Remainder Trust is the owner of the building. Trust representatives say they made the decision to evict the Fourth Street Market owners after years of trying to make their relationship work.

They say their preference was to sell the building to the market owners, but that it became clear that couldn’t happen.

“We tried for a long time to keep that store open and as successful as possible for as long as possible, and hopefully the next owners or that store will work hard for that to be an asset for that neighborhood and we’ll do everything we can to encourage that and support that,” says Tony Cuneo, a representative from the trust.

The building is now for sale.

Trust representatives stress the decision to evict the Fourth Street Market was not made locally.