A new owner spruced up the old Lacy market

The tiny grocery store that’s served the Springdale community in Bailey’s Crossroads for decades has a new owner, a new name, and new products.

The former Lacy Variety, at 3716 Lacy Boulevard, is now La Tiendita de Blanca (the little store of Blanca).

Blanca Diaz bought the property and renovated the whole store. “I wanted something nice for the community,” she says. She added tubs with 24 ice cream flavors and little tables “so people can come in and relax with a cup of coffee.”

When she first visited the market, “it was a mess inside,” she says. “People were drunk in the parking lot, people were sleeping in their cars and peeing outside.”

The store no longer sells alcohol or tobacco. La Tiendita de Blanca is now more welcoming to families and children. The store stocks chips and other snacks, drinks, ice, Latin American products, rice, beans, shampoo, and other items neighbors can pick up without having to go to a supermarket. Coming soon: fresh produce, shakes, sandwiches, and music.

In the summer, Blanca plans to add an outdoor fruit and vegetable stand, gas for grilling, and picnic tables in the parking lot.

“I’m so happy neighbors are coming to the store,” she says. “I want the neighborhood to be proud of all the changes.”

Two older men who grew up in the neighborhood told her they used to come to the Lacy market to buy candy when they were little. To honor that past, the candy section is the one area of the store that Blanca didn’t change.

She also owns Blanca’s Snow Cones at 4821 Columbia Pike in Arlington and Blanca’s Snow Cones y Mangonadas at 7293 Commerce Street in Springfield.