Pittsburgh City Councilmember working to replace Brownsville Road Shop 'n Save

Earlier this month, the Shop 'n Save on Brownsville Road in Carrick closed, and now it has the community asking a lot of questions about what will take its place. 

Now, one city councilmember is working to see if someone can fill the space and continue to give the community a place to grocery shop. 

After 40 years, a sign at the entrance of the now former Shop 'n Save reads "permanently closed" and "thank you for 40 years." 

With a parking lot now looking like a ghost town, Tom Schaffer is visiting the former grocer he knew for years, as if it's a graveyard. 

"It's depressing already," he said. "Just everything is gone now, you know? It's a terrible thing." 

Schaffer, like many others, wonders what this place could become, and he's heard many things. 

"I hear all kinds of rumors that there are different things going in here, from a U-Haul to a furniture store, or whatever it is," he said. 

Now it looks like City Councilman Anthony Coghill and others are trying to do something. 

"Myself, our state representative, our state senator, even Mayor O'Connor [were] on the phones yesterday just to try to draw somebody," Coghill said. 

Cogill and others tried to convince the owner of the Shop 'n Save on Brownsville Road to say, but he told them he was at a different phase in his life, and he decided to retire. 

"To his credit, he really felt bad because he's been servicing this neighborhood for a long time," Coghill said. 

The goal now is to try to get another grocer here, and Coghill said they could potentially provide some incentives. 

"We reached out to everybody: Aldi, Giant Eagle, Shop 'n Save, Wegman's," he said. 

Despite those efforts, Coghill said that they haven't really gotten a response one way or the other, so there's still a long road ahead. 

As for someone like Schaffer, plans change in the interim. 

"I've been just having Walmart delivered," he said. "Just open up the Shop 'n Save or bring [in] Kuhn's or something else. Even I guess a Giant Eagle at this point, because they need something here." 

Shop 'n Save said for its part, there are three stores within a 15-minute drive, including Mt. Washington, Castle Shannon, and West Mifflin.