ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The closure of the Walmart at Central and San Mateo started pushing numbers in the wrong direction. Service providers and leaders say it is only getting worse while the city looks for a long-term solution.

The Walmart shut its doors a year ago, and other national companies like Walgreens and Family Dollar have also moved out of that neighborhood since then.

Pastor Joanne Landry says she’s been seeing a lot of a new faces lately at the Compassion Services Center in the International District.

“A lot of people, they need food, and it’s just amazing to see how they run to these tables and in just a short matter of time, it’s gone,” Landry said. “Unfortunately a lot of the smaller stores in the community, they’re really price gouging and a lot of the people – their food stamps just goes quickly because they’re spending everything they have with high prices.”

Landry wants to know why that retail area is still empty. Blocks away, Roxie Bradley, the pantry lead at La Mesa Presbyterian Church, is wondering the same thing.

“We just noticed every week there’d be more and more people coming that we hadn’t seen before,” Bradley said.

They are open three days a week, serving hundreds of neighbors.

“It’s very sad, I can’t say it any other way,” Bradley said. “I just feel that these people are being underserved, and we’re doing our best to fill in the gap.”

Albuquerque City Councilor Nichole Rogers says she’s making it a priority to fill the space too.

“Right now, we have a food desert, a pharmacy desert, we have a school supply desert, and so there are a lot of things that are affected by not having access to fresh foods,” Rogers said.

Rogers said that one of her first questions after she took office was — what’s happening with Walmart?

“Walmart is holding out for the highest bidder, period. They’ve told the state one price, they told the city one price, they told local developers a completely different price,” Rogers said. “It’s gone up to like $15 million is the highest number I’ve heard for that particular property.”

Rogers is at the National League of Cities Conference in Washington, D.C. this week, meeting with federal agencies to learn about how to get more resources in her district.

“My job as the elected official is to just make sure that I aligned the city’s budget and the city’s priorities with what the community wants, and they want fresh food, they want co-ops and want farmers markets outside of just one Saturday,” Rogers said.

Rogers said she’s focused on solutions she can implement quickly, and service providers say they are ready to help.

“Let’s get more progress here,” Landry said. “The community deserves it, so let’s do it together.”

The city’s Municipal Development Department confirms it is still in discussions with Walmart, but there’s no timeline on when a sale could happen.