Northern Illinois Food Bank to fill a portion of the former Kmart in south Rockford

By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — Northern Illinois Food Bank is preparing to fill a portion of the former Kmart on Sandy Hollow Road as its new home base and community market grocery shopping experience.

The food bank will move from its Northwest Center, 765 Research Parkway, to what will be called the Northern Illinois Food Bank Neighborhood Market, 1501 Sandy Hollow Road. A move-in date isn’t set, but the nonprofit’s lease at Research Parkway is up at the end of the year and it plans to relocate sometime in the fourth quarter.

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Aside from serving as a mass vaccination site in 2021, the former retail giant has been empty since Kmart closed that space in April 2018. The property was once planned as a future Walmart before the company withdrew and sold for $850,000 to First Midwest Group, in February 2020, according to a deed with the Winnebago County Recorder’s Office.

After several improvements to the property, including roof repairs, it now has its first tenant. At the corner lot in front of the property, a QuikTrip truck stop and convenience store is under construction.

Northern Illinois Food Bank has operated from its Northwest Center since 2015, but it has outgrown the space, said Maeven Sipes, the nonprofit’s chief philanthropy officer. It will use approximately 30,000 square feet of the former Kmart, increasing its space by about 11,000-square feet. That’s only a portion of the former Kmart, which still has room for lease to other occupants.

For the food bank, it solves issues with congestion in its current parking lot as people lined up to shop at its Winnebago County Market, a free grocery shopping experience that has run from Research Parkway since 2018.

“Trying to operate a market where we have neighbors coming in and shopping, as well as some delivery, all while having agencies come to the center and pick up the food they need for their pantries, and having volunteers come out, it doesn’t work for what we need,” Sipes said.

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The new location also offers convenient access from U.S. Route 20 in a more visible area of south Rockford than Research Parkway, Sipes said.

“It will help increase awareness for those who might not know about us,” she said. “We think it will give more visibility for neighbors that need to come and use our services, as well as the volunteers and donors that we’re looking for.”

The new site will also allow the food bank to grow the size of its grocery market and allow the nonprofit to partner with other organizations to provide additional support services.

Increased need

The move comes as the food bank is seeing an increasing need locally. Food insecurity affects one in seven Winnebago County residents.

“Within our 13-county service area, it’s one of our counties with the highest food insecurity rates,” Sipes said.

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Northern Illinois Food Bank serves 13 counties and provides food to more than 560,000 people every month. That’s a 15% increase from this time last year and double the nonprofit’s prepandemic figures, Sipes said.

The nonprofit is working to raise about $600,000 from donors to help fund its relocation. It has a $122,000 matching gift committed so far from Theresa and Jerry Hinck, UW Health, Barbara Bullock and Christopher Bullock.

Other Kmart

The Sandy Hollow site is one of two former Kmart properties in the city with redevelopment plans in the works.

U-Haul, which owns the former Kmart on East State Street, wants to turn that space into a self-storage facility while building three new structures for retail and restaurants in front of the former retailer.

City Council members are expected to discuss that proposal tonight at City Hall.

Learn more | donate

To learn more about the Northern Illinois Food Bank’s relocation plans, visit SolveHungerToday.org/RockfordRelocation. You can donate to help the organization move HERE.

This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas