The news this week that a small, independent group of three grocery stores was forced to close down over Christmas weekend can be seen as a tough blow to some local neighborhoods.

The owner pulled the plug on the stores, Americas' Food Basket, leaving a void in two critical shopping districts - Fields Corner and Uphams Corner - as well as a location in Hyde Park. The closures come at a time when the larger Dorchester neighborhood has welcomed two new "big box" Stop & Shop stores, one last winter on Morrissey Blvd. and the other just last month at South Bay.

The failure of the small group says less about the viability of the neighborhood as it does about the economics of the food market industry. Giant chains like Stop & Shop and its competitor, Shaw's Market, have a huge competitive advantage over the small independents: From lower prices based on high volume, to wider varieties and expanded shopping hours, the megastores can advertise widely, and attract shoppers from a larger radius. What these stores do not offer is greater convenience for working class neighborhoods. For people without the luxury of a family automobile, the independent stores bring a certain added quality of life benefit to our community.

There are many complex reasons for the store closings, but the fact remains that there's now a glaring negative impact on the two Dorchester retail areas that goes beyond the loss of these stores. In Uphams Corner, the Dudley Street Food Basket has anchored that shopping district for 13 years. The small businesses that benefited from trade brought to the corner of Dudley Street and Columbia Road are likely to see a fall-off in their business, as shoppers must now find an alternate source to buy their groceries.

In Fields Corner, the now-closed market at the corner of Park Street and Geneva Ave. will no longer serve as a magnet for other more specialized shops in the small strip mall. Arguably, the Fields Corner merchants will not feel as large a negative impact, yet the nearby neighborhood is diminished by the loss of the grocery store. Moreover, the hardships certain to be felt by the employees who lost their jobs over the holiday weekend need mitigation, and the city's Department of Neighborhood Development has responded quickly to address those concerns.

Now, rather than lament the loss of the grocery stores, perhaps it is time to consider what new opportunity now lies ahead for these two vital Dorchester shopping areas. What is needed now is some "outside the box" thinking about how to respond to the new realities in Fields and Uphams corners. City government can be helpful in bringing together the interested parties- the property owners, the lease holders, the lenders, the nearby civic leaders- to discuss what the future may hold.

It is time for a new vision, a time for some creative thinking, a chance to ask a few "what-if" questions- and see what new answers might come about.

Now is not the time for us all to wring our hands and emphasize what has gone wrong; it is a time to question what should these two retail districts look like in the not-so-distant future.

We know that Mayor Menino and his administration are up to the task. We have seen the urban economic miracle at South Bay change the way developers think about a neighborhood. Now's the time to create a new model for these other more mature retail districts, a model that can become a national blueprint for urban retail districts. - Ed Forry