FAILING BASIC MARKETING.

With great hopes, a grocery store opened in what the policy types call a food desert.  Now it's going away.

Phillip Backstrol was thrilled when a Whole Foods Market opened in Englewood six years ago. The 65-year-old neighborhood resident prefers to shop there for the variety of organic vegetables.

“I thought it was great,” said Backstrol.

Now, Backstrol will need to drive somewhere else to find that extensive of a selection of fruit and vegetables.

The company on Friday announced plans to close the Englewood store that had opened with great fanfare as the anchor of a major development at 63rd and Halsted streets in a area long considered a food desert.

Another store, in the DePaul University Welcome Center in Lincoln Park, is also among six U.S. stores the chain plans to close in the coming months, although officials set no dates for the shutdowns.

The Detroitification of Chicago continues.

Shoppers at the Englewood location were shocked Friday to hear they were losing not just a major grocer, but also a local hub; the store had been the site of community meetings, wine tastings and other events.

Lashay Shambley, who works nearby at the Chase Bank at 62nd Street and Western Avenue, said she’s not sure where she’ll get lunch now.

“There’s nothing but Popeyes, McDonald’s and Wendy’s,” said Shambley, 21. “I kind of looked toward Whole Foods for like a healthy escape.”

Local politicians have opportunities to posture, and whinge about how inequitable it all is.

Local Ald. Stephanie Coleman (16th) said she was “blindsided” by Friday’s “devastating” announcement.

“This is disappointing news that Whole Foods has decided to close the doors on our only grocery store of fresh foods and fresh produce,” said Coleman, who accused the chain of moving to “renege” on its commitment to the community.

“When I think about other communities on the North Side in Streeterville and River North, they have multiple grocery stores. ... From Englewood to Edgewater, we should have the same opportunities, the same resources, the same retail opportunities as any other any other no matter what our ZIP code is.”

Shouldn't retail opportunities go where they're rewarded? Is it that the Popeyes and Wendy's offerings are cheap, or that they're tasty, that they're still trading in Englewood?

Since the store first opened, an Aldi and a Go Green Community Fresh market opened along the same block, but those stores don’t have nearly the range of offerings as a full-service grocer.

Still, some said the news was not surprising. While the store initially offered cheaper prices than other Whole Foods locations, many complained the upscale chain was too expensive for the area.

“They said they were going to have lower prices for Englewood but they didn’t make that promise real,” said one nearby resident, who didn’t want his name used.

Ald. Jeanette Taylor (20th), whose ward boundary is across the street from the store, said she’s not at all surprised the store derisively known as “Whole Paycheck” was closing.

“Whole Foods was just expensive. And a lot of people did not shop there,” she said.

“I got a raise, and I can’t afford Whole Foods. It’s not cheap.”

Apparently some public money was involved in getting a Whole Foods set up in that neighborhood, and the developer who took the public money is now responsible for finding another grocer for that location.

Before the city land that includes Whole Foods was sold to developer Leon Walker for $1, the City Council approved a redevelopment agreement that requires a grocery store to be located on that parcel through 2027.

That means Walker will have to find a grocer to occupy the site, sources said.

Walker confirmed in an interview Friday that officials are actively looking for a new tenant. No timeline has been set.

“We’re working together with the city and the aldermen and the community to find the best replacement operation to take advantage of this opportunity,” he said.

The mayor at the time Whole Foods opened was current ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel, who, of course, was conspicuous at the opening of the store, and conspicuously unavailable for comment at press time,

Your tax dollars at work.