People were lining out the door for the opening of the new Ruler Foods on West Elm Street. This is the fourth Ruler Foods in Ohio and the second in Lima.. But the new store is situated in a neighborhood, helping out and employing people that live nearby.
"What it's going to bring to the community of Lima is, first of all, a grocery store in the neighborhood where people live, and I think that's extremely important," said Paul Bowen, division president for The Kroger Company. "Our costumers tell us that, and they like to be able to buy their basic needs on a daily basis."
The store is something that has been a long time coming, and might help solve some of the food problems that Lima faces.
"This is one of the things that we wanted to serve our residents, as well as all the employees that are down here, and anyone who comes downtown," said Aubree Kaye, executive director of Downtown Lima, Inc. "It seems that there's always been kind of a food desert between the East and West side of town so we're thrilled that Ruler Foods decided to open a business here and open downtown."
The new Ruler Foods isn't the only business that’s changing the face of downtown Lima; several small businesses have their eye on empty storefronts with the hope of moving in.
"We do have ideas for things, but we have entrepreneurs and people that want to open businesses come in weekly, looking for locations downtown that they want to become established in or start their business in," Kaye said. Â "We're thrilled that we have a lot of small, local businesses downtown that are even starting out and growing."
Those small businesses bring a lot to the downtown area, filling up empty spaces and the profit from local businesses bring money right back into downtown Lima.
But for now - residents living near the new Ruler Foods are hopeful that the store will bring people back to the community.
"We would have to go clear across town to go to the grocery store, so it should bring the community back together," said Ruthie Mays, a resident who lives nearby.
