The Buffalo shooting shuttered Tops and left a food desert. Locals are stepping in.

Pastor Andre Kamoche, left, and Greg Jackson, with Rehoboth House of Prayer, help unload a truck of fresh produce to be given out to people affected by the Tops closure on Tuesday in Buffalo, N.Y. (Joshua Bessex/AP)

Joshua Bessex / Joshua Bessex

The Tops supermarket on the Buffalo’s East Side was a store Black residents pushed for years to get. It serviced an area that would otherwise be a food desert.

Those without access to a car particularly relied on this location to walk to. With the store closed for the foreseeable future as investigators process the crime scene, the food desert has returned and Trice Smith is one of the longtime customers seeking other options.

“We don’t have much over here. You know, we don’t have markets on every corner. You know what I’m saying? We have people that don’t have cars,” Smith told NPR.