As Jumbo Fresh opens in Southwest Baltimore, a sense of excitement — and fear of failure

At 6:30 a.m. Wednesday, Laverne Carter sprung from bed and darted for West Pratt Street, fueled by fantasies of a kitchen brimming with ripe tomatoes. She’s one of thousands in the seven neighborhoods that make up South Baltimore’s Sowebo community to be left without a grocery store in walking distance following the 2022 shuttering of Price Rite in Mount Clare Junction.