Thank you Josh for putting this together. I did this poster when the co-op failed and now we're back to ground zero!
Tom Lohre
Owner resolute in saving Clifton Market
Nearby residents hope store returns to former glory
Scott Wartman Cincinnati Enquirer | USA TODAY NETWORK
Friday, February 13, 2026
Clifton Market these days is a grocery store with few groceries. The Enquirer on a recent weekday afternoon observed no customers and rows of sparse or empty shelves. A lone cashier was the only other person visible in the grocery store, formerly Keller’s IGA, which first opened in 1939. But the owner, Gurmukh Singh, was adamant: He’s not closing. That news might come as a surprise to some Clifton residents who have seen the barren shelves in the cavernous market and feared they would lose the grocery store that has served them for more than 80 years.
“My heart and soul and everything is still behind this business.”
Singh acknowledged it’s been a rough several months and said two suppliers he relied on went out of business. A Hamilton County Common Pleas Court judge in January found Clifton Market owed a food service vendor $119,000.
Singh said he’s found a new supplier and is in the process of making repairs to the grocery store. He said he hopes to have the store fully stocked again by spring.
“I love this store, and I want to keep it as a store,” Singh said. “My heart and soul and everything is still behind this business and trying everything I can to get this store back to where it was.”
Residents hoping for help
Residents in the area hope to see the store returned to its former glory.
Resident Tom Lohre was concerned enough on Jan. 31 that he posted a bat signal of sorts, for grocers to come in and help his neighborhood market. He posted on Clifton Market’s Facebook page an illustration of Batman atop the market staring at the spotlight in the sky with the Clifton Market logo.
“We’re looking for a grocer to see the symbol in the sky and come to the rescue,” Lohre said. He, however, is skeptical anyone can make a go of it. “I don’t know if anybody would think it’s going to be viable, because I think the Singhs did their best.”
Lohre, a community activist who has promoted the market for years, said Singh a year ago gave him permission to post on the Clifton Market’s page. Lohre wants to see the store thrive, he said.
What is the Clifton Market?
The location has been a grocery store since 1939. For most of that time it was known as Keller’s IGA and served generations of Cliftonites, college students and faculty from nearby University of Cincinnati, as well as those who frequented the neighborhood’s bohemian mix of theaters, restaurants, stores and coffee shops.
When IGA closed in 2011 after the store fell behind on its taxes, residents banded together to form a co-op and raised $6 million to reopen the store in January 2017 as the more upscale Clifton Market. The market struggled to stock shelves and attract customers. In November 2018, the co-op’s board voted to sell the store for $1.8 million to Singh, who had taken over as store manager earlier in the month.
Singh said he bought the market hoping to turn it around. He’s not new to the neighborhood. He owns Elephant Walk Indian and Ethiopian Restaurant that he opened with his family near UC in 2008.
Singh said he bought the struggling Clifton Market because it was an important piece of the neighborhood. People, particularly the elderly, relied on the store for food, he said.
“I felt like anything that I can do to keep neighborhoods from becoming a food desert, I will do it,” Singh said.
Why does Clifton Market matter?
Clifton Market occupies a prominent location in Clifton’s Gaslight District along the main drag of Ludlow Avenue, across the street from the Esquire Theater. Some of the importance comes from nostalgia, said resident Aaron Weiner, a Realtor who ran for Cincinnati City Council in 2025. Weiner said he thinks the area needs a grocery store, but maybe a smaller one that’s part of a mixed-use development.
“There’s a population that really relies on that store, and that’s certainly a crucial piece of the neighborhood, but is it enough to sustain it?” Weiner said. “We’ve seen all three renditions, and it seemed to struggle a little bit.”
Residents have asked Mike Anagnostou whether anything can be done to save the grocery store. Anagnostou is the head of the Clifton Business Association. He’s also the owner of Ludlow Wines, a few doors down the street from Clifton Market.
Anagnostou said he doesn’t know if anything can save the Clifton Market in the long run. It’s hard to compete with Kroger. But he hopes the market can make a go of it.
“The neighborhood has always felt like one of the things about living in Clifton has been the fact that you could walk up to the grocery store, to the CVS,” Anagnostou said. “They love that lifestyle.”
“I don’t know if anybody would think it’s going to be viable, because I think the Singhs did their best.”
Tom Lohre
Clifton resident and activist, on the future of the Clifton Market
https://www.cincinnati.com/story/grocery/2026/02/11/crucial-piece-of-the-neighborhood-can-clifton-market-survive/88548709007/?gnt-cfr=1&gca-cat=p&gca-uir=true&gca-epti=z11xx52p118350c118350v11xx52d--80--&gca-ft=239&gca-ds=sophi