The Kroger supermarket chain is being praised this week after they donated one of their closed locations to a rival chain so that a community would not be left without a supermarket.

Once Kroger closed their Orange Mound location in Memphis, Tennessee back in February of 2018, local residents were left with no choice but to travel to the Kroger location in Union, which was a long 30-minute bus ride with groceries in hand. Local leaders threatened to launch a boycott of the chain unless they were given another fully-serviced grocery store to suit the needs of their community.

Just after closing the location, representatives for Kroger tried to make things right by attempting to pass on the property to Superlo, a family-owned grocery store chain with several local branches in the city. Sadly, Superlo had just opened another branch in the city around this time, and the family who owned the small chain did not feel that they could afford to purchase yet another location.

“We thought it was a great opportunity,” said Randy Stepherson, one of the owners of Superlo. “Unfortunately, we’re a small company and very conservative with our fiscal policy. We had just bitten off Parkway Village and did not feel that we were prepared to bite off two at once.”

After over a year of financial negotiations, the Kroger representatives have finally announced that they will be donating the $500,000 facility to Superlo. The move shocked everyone, as it is truly unprecedented.

“Never done this before in our history,” said Victor Smith, president of Kroger Delta Division.

Superlo is hoping to open their store at this new location on December 1.

“That might be a bridge too far,” said Stepherson. “We’ve got to get in and get the building going. We’ve got to hire people. We’ve got to get it stocked, starting from scratch, two months might be a little tight, but we’re hoping.”

Find out more in the video below.