Greensboro Food Desert Grocery Store Faces New Delays Amid State Review

The Piggly Wiggly that residents near Freeman Mill Road have been waiting more than six years to see open is facing yet another round of delays, this time as state health officials review the project's permitting and plan details, adding a new obstacle to what has become one of the Triad's most-postponed grocery store openings.

The store is planned for Freeman Mill Square, the mostly vacant shopping center at the corner of Freeman Mill Road and Florida Street, which sits in an underserved neighborhood that's a popular route for commuters into downtown Greensboro. According to the USDA's Food Access Research Atlas, the store sits near the center of a neighborhood marked by low income and low access to grocery stores, key indicators of a food desert.

The store has seen many delays in the six years since the idea was first hatched. What was originally envisioned as a March 2025 opening was supposed to happen on March 25 of last year, but a new opening date was never set. Developers then aimed for Thanksgiving 2025. The long-awaited grocery store was hoping to open by Thanksgiving, but Thanksgiving came and went and the grocery store did not open. By late December 2025, co-owners were reporting construction progress inside the space. Co-owner Madhav Dhakal said getting to that point required a lot of work navigating permits, licensing and power grid connections.

The latest stumbling block is a state health review of permitting and plan details, reported by the Triad Business Journal. Developer Shehzad Quamar had said the renovation of the 14,000-square-foot space was nearly complete, with plans to start stocking the store and hiring employees once the store passed the health department inspection. That inspection process now sits with state officials, with no timeline set for its completion.

S&S Capital Inc., the local developer behind the project, received an urban development grant and a loan from the city to build the Piggly Wiggly at the Freeman Mill Shopping Plaza. Councilwoman Sharon Hightower of District 1 has been part of the effort to bring a viable grocery store to the area, which is considered a food desert with not a lot of grocery options within miles of the residential area.

Guilford County has 18 food deserts according to a USDA map. Interior construction and upfitting of the Piggly Wiggly and other retail businesses at the shopping center had previously stalled while waiting for the approval of plans by the city of Greensboro; the state review now adds another layer to that already lengthy approval chain. No new opening date has been set.