That’s how long Lowes Foods did business at 1001 N. Miami Blvd., known as The Village shopping center, in Durham’s Wellons Village neighborhood. Then one day in September – poof, just like that – the supermarket closed.

Wellons Village is located in Northeast Central Durham, a portion of which is labeled a “food desert.” That’s a “low-income census tract where a substantial number or share of residents has low access to a supermarket or large grocery store,” according to the Department of Agriculture’s online food desert locator.

Sarah Parsons, a Duke Campus Farm Fellow, looked at Durham’s “food deserts” in April 2012. Her evaluation showed the USDA doesn’t take into account sidewalk access, bus stop locations or bus schedules – all important factors in measuring community access to large supermarkets. Parsons created her own Durham “food desert” map that showed the Wellons Village area had adequate access to a large grocery store.

But that was then.

“With that Lowes closing, and the TROSA [grocery store] closing, the map I did would be very different now,” Parsons said.

The September opening of Save-A-Lot supermarket at Alston Avenue and Liberty Street helped some residents on the western edge of the USDA defined “food desert.” But those without cars in Wellons Village, which borders the eastern edge were dealt a blow when Lowes Foods closed.

Lowes Foods was within walking distance of the Cambridge Village, Naples Terrace and Pinecrest apartment homes, many of whose residents don’t have vehicles, according to managers there. Naples Terrace and Pinecrest are outside the Northeast Central Durham border, but both complexes had residents who shopped at Lowes Foods.

Nilsa Garcia, who manages the Naples Terrace apartments on Hardee Street, said many of her tenants walked to do their grocery shopping. Lowes Foods was a draw for residents considering renting at Naples Terrace, but now that selling point has vanished.

Food Lion at 2400 Holloway St., slightly more than half a mile from The Village shopping center, also serves the neighborhood. Food Lion is accessible by bus, but reaching the store on foot can be treacherous. There are no sidewalks along Hardee Street from Naples Terrace, past Pinecrest and stretching to Holloway Street, which also lacks sidewalks from its intersection with Hardee Street until passing under Highway 70, about a block from Food Lion.

The Village shopping center also serves as a DATA bus transfer point. Lines 3, 13, 16 and 16B all stop at Raynor Street, which borders the shopping center, before passing through East Durham toward either downtown or Durham Tech.

Durham resident Mahanis James gets around by bus. She lives near the intersection of Main and Driver streets in East Durham, but used to shop at Lowes Foods because it was a convenient stop while transferring buses. Now James shops for groceries at Wal-Mart on Glenn School Road, often a 30-minute bus ride each way.

“It’s hard to get around, period,” James said. “It’d be just fine if they brought it [a grocery store] back.”

Debbie Williams, assistant to the president for Lowes Foods, said the store originally opened July 1, 1988. Williams added that the company hated to leave Wellons Village after 24 years, but the location was not large enough to offer all its products. She also said Lowes Foods did not want to commit to a long-term lease.

The Village is managed by a Raleigh-based commercial real estate company, Rivercrest Realty. The leasing agent for the property declined to comment for this story.