For years, community activists and politicians have tried to lure other food chains to Camden. But those that showed interest have pulled out at the last minute.
Their reluctance may be based on the number of consumers they expect and their disposable incomes, said Carol Kaufman-Scarborough, a Rutgers-Camden marketing professor. "It's really [about] getting the critical mass."
Developers say they are confident a grocery will be part of the mixed-use Haddon Avenue Transit Village, set to break ground in Camden on the border with Collingswood in mid-2012. The location, at the White Horse Pike intersection, is easily accessible to a wide variety of consumers.
But even with enactment of legislation - and at least one bill pending - designed to facilitate supermarket construction in urban areas, the developers have not secured a signed lease.
"We're at the mercy of the corner stores, and they are too damn high," said Mangaliso Davis, a North Camden resident and longtime gadfly.
Residents also complain that the little stores often do not carry fresh food, and that some are hangouts or fronts for drug dealers.
Last year, the last time Crymes set foot in a corner store, she had to push through the drug dealers who blocked the entrance, the feisty 81-year-old widow said.
The acute shortage of supermarkets has landed parts of Camden on the list of the country's worst food deserts - defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as low-income urban areas in which at least a third of residents live more than a mile from a supermarket that does at least $2 million in annual sales.
Areas of downtown, North Camden, and Cramer Hill were labeled food deserts by the department this year. Nutrition and poverty experts have linked the lack of food options to an increased risk of obesity, diabetes, and other health problems.
