![]() The Times-Union attempted to contact the new owner but was not able to by publication. ![]() She lives nearby, and like the other residents the Times-Union spoke with, would like to see another market or food store in the building. She lost it just this spring after she couldn't afford to pay the property taxes for the years following her brother's death.įood deserts: Jacksonville's New Town food desert can be miles from a grocery store. However, Williams no longer owns the property. Bucky wanted to both fill a need and start a successful Black-owned business in a majority Black area. Williams says her brother opened the store because there wasn't one in the area. he never worried about being paid," Gayle Williams said. "He fed everybody from down Kings Road all the way to U.S. ![]() "This area is poverty-stricken, a mainly Black area, and all the kids, the adults would come in with no food, no nothing. Residents shop at the Family Dollar a block away or take a bus to a grocery store to get fresh food like what Bucky's used to offer. Gone are the fresh meats and produce that are now hard to find in an area considered a food desert today. They didn't know until he was gone in August 2018.įighting the ‘food apartheid’: Garden, farmers market planned for Jacksonville's New Townīut the loss of Bucky - and the loss of the store that was an integral part of the surrounding poverty-stricken community - is still felt today, especially during the holidays. Williams never told anyone he was fighting liver cancer, not his friends, his family nor his sister, Gayle Williams. Water pours from the collapsed ceiling and collects on the floors. The building where he founded his store in 2003 is a dilapidated version of the business it once was. ![]() The windows on the front of Bucky's Meat Market still advertise specials: Spare ribs, oxtails, chicken and steak. The awning with the store name is still up.īut the inside of the building at 1927 Kings Road is empty - as it's been since owner Charles John "Bucky" Williams died three years ago. ![]()
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