South End grocer Foodie’s Urban Market has announced that it will close its location on Washington Street in June, to the dismay and disappointment of residents. Foodie’s has been in the neighborhood for nearly 30 years.

In a joint press release put out Monday between Foodie’s and its landlord, the market’s general manager Victor Leon said he was “forever grateful” to the South End, but that “operating a small, independently owned grocery store has become increasingly challenging in today’s economic environment.” Foodie’s will focus its efforts on its remaining location in South Boston.

“It’s a complete shock,” Jonathan Alves, who has lived in the neighborhood for 11 years, said. “I exclusively go to Foodie’s Market. It’s a pivotal community-based grocer that services a wide and diverse population of the South End. To lose a retail and grocery space on Washington Street, in that location, would be devastating to the neighborhood.”

Another issue is employment. Foodie’s made a conscious effort to employ South End residents, who, if the store closes, will be out of work.

The new tenant, the press release said, is currently slated to be the Croft School, a private K-7 school that already has two locations on Washington Street. The press release stated that after Foodie’s decided to close upon the end of its lease, the school had reached out to the landlord. “We see this as an exciting opportunity to continue to serve students living in the South End,” Scott Given, executive director of the Croft School, said in a statement in the release.

The community is not happy about that.

An online Change.org petition circulated Tuesday, titled “Protect Retail Storefronts and Food Access in Boston’s South End,” received over 1,100 signatures in its first 11 hours.

“Personally, I do not support a school in that location on a main street, which is zoned currently for retail and restaurant and food,” Alves said. “The Croft School already has two locations on the street within a quarter of a mile. Their two current locations are complete dead zones on the street.”

There is also no other local grocery store nearby in the neighborhood, which means losing Foodie’s could create a food desert in the area. State Representative John Moran, who serves the neighborhood, said many of the emails he had received on Tuesday were variations of, “I don’t have a car. How am I going to get fresh food?”

“Small business is the lifeblood of the South End, so we just have to be careful about the balance of the uses along these main veins, and keeping retail a strong portion,” City Councilor John FitzGerald, whose district is near the grocer, said in a phone call. “What we’re seeing is that food, shopping, and retail use is the preferred use of this site.”

The space is zoned for retail use, so the Croft School would have to get an approval from the city to change this spot to an institutional or educational use.

Moran said its proposal is currently before the Inspectional Services Department, where it has been since January. If the department denies it, the proposal would then go to the Zoning Board of Appeals, which would kickstart a public process for the community to share its opinions.

FitzGerald said this would be the best place for community members to advocate. “Whatever change of use would have to probably go through the Zoning Board of Appeals, and that decision lies in their hands,” he said. “But of course, we can also make our appeal to the Zoning Board, and really just try and get community support behind it.”

It’s unclear why specifically Foodie’s is closing beyond general grocery business considerations. Foodie’s did not return a request for comment.

Moran said that he had spoken to Leon, and that some of his reasons were financial. The building itself is quite old and would soon need to be refurbished. The Croft School plans to do this if it takes on the lease.

But another reason, Moran said, is that after 30 years in the business, Leon just felt it was time for the family-run store to close shop.