More than 50 people gathered this morning outside the Save-a-Lot supermarket in East Oak Cliff.

They had come to the business at Lancaster Road and Elmore Avenue to celebrate what city and neighborhood leaders hope will be a development catalyst, as well as nutritional supplement, for an area with a long shopping list of economic needs.

JACOB BLICKENSTAFF/Special Contributor

Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert and Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway joined Save-A-Lot for its official “Dollar Cutting” grand opening ceremony at 2611 South Lancaster. Save-A-Lot donated 5,000 pounds of food to the North Texas Food Bank.

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The store stands at the site of a long-abandoned movie theater and anchors a strip center that’s being redeveloped along Lancaster Road.

There they were, Mayor Tom Leppert and Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway, bustling around the grocery store in search of food.

"We just need oatmeal. I think we’re about done," said an anxious Caraway, piloting a shopping cart bearing 4-year-old Megan Manning. "Oatmeal ought to be right here," said the wide-eyed mayor, looking around, rushing off.

Their goal was to gather and deliver a list of goods. To shop faster than two other teams. And minutes later the guys from City Hall and young Megan had done just that — with the mayor playfully blocking another cart near the finish line.

Besides serving the neighborhood, the grocery store will help drive surrounding development, the mayor told the audience, adding "we think we can do more.

"I hope there’s a great sense of excitement and enthusiasm," he said.

Caraway, an energy force for southern Dallas revival, was all enthusiasm in telling the group to raise their right hands and "repeat after me: I promise to shop at Save-a-Lot."

"It is up to us to support it and make sure it thrives," he said, calling the store’s opening "a dream come true. And it’s just the beginning.

"This was once an old theater, an eyesore in our community," he said to applause.

A 2007 study by University of Texas at Dallas economists Nathan Berg and James Murdoch found that southern Dallas residents had less access to grocery stores and nutritional food than did those in the city’s northern half.

St. Louis-based Save-a-Lot tries to mine such imbalances by opening stores in underserved neighborhoods and selling food at what it says is comparatively affordable prices.

The 17,000 square-foot Lancaster Road store is its third in southern Dallas and 15th in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

"We’ve got a little niche here," said Rick Meyer, a company vice president on hand for the opening.

Shoppers on Tuesday said they welcomed the new store, now open for a month.

"It's clean and has good prices. Lots of Spanish things," said Teresa Rodriquez, back for her third shopping trip.

Sharon Walker said the store's prices "were about the same" as other supermarkets. But "it needed to be here. It’s a good thing," she said.

The grand opening was a good thing for the North Texas Food Bank. Save-a-Lot donated 5,000 pounds of food to the charity.

The oatmeal, yogurt and other goods gathered up by the Leppert-Caraway team and other racers will go to the food bank as well.