NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Piggly Wiggly on Dickerson Pike spent four days turning people away.
Power to the grocery store's coolers and registers went out during Friday's wind storm. It took the Nashville Electric Service until Tuesday afternoon to get the electricity fully restored.
Freddie Robertson owns the Piggly Wiggly. It is located in a food desert, which means people in the area have limited access to food and transportation. During the power outage, Robertson said NES representatives told him his business couldn't be moved up on the list.
"If people in our city are going hungry, if that's not something you expedite, what is something you expedite?" Robertson said.
Robertson feels like the utility didn't consider the ripple effect.
"We're giving away as much as we can, but you can't give them milk that you don't have cold. You can give them some mackerel and tuna to try to make a meal out of, but at some point we've got to get refrigerated food out here to feed our neighborhood," Robertson said.
NES trucks showed up around 2:45 p.m. on Tuesday, well after the store threw out $250,000 worth of fresh food.
It will reopen Wednesday at 7 a.m.
