MARKET

The Fairground Neighborhood Revitalization Organization (FNRO) is creating a community-owned grocery store.

In the interest of bringing healthy and fresh food access back to our neighborhoods, the FNRO is creating a new grocery store on the lots it owns at the intersection of Florissant and Warne (the site of the FNRO native plant garden).

This store is special not just because it will improve quality food access in the area, but also because it will be owned and run by the community.

Full project details are below, but for now, there are several ways you can get involved:

Tell us what kind of products you would like to see in the store.

This is your store, and one of the benefits of a community-owned store is that it can carry what the community wants. Click here to submit a form with suggestions for food and non-food items you would like the store to stock.

If you are a food producer or local maker, tell us about products you make that you would like the store to carry.

In addition to carrying produce from local farmers, we want this store to feature products from as many local food and product producers as possible. Fill out this form to tell us about what you make (or refer another producer) so that we can consider stocking your products once the store is open.

Join our email list to receive updates on the project and learn about other opportunities to get involved.

We will be sharing news and offering more opportunities to participate in the coming months, so enter your email address here to receive occasional updates.

For more information, reach out to us at: fairground.market.stl@gmail.com

Fairground Community-Owned Grocery Store Details

INTRODUCTION

When the Schnucks Grocery store in north St. Louis closed in 2014, the Fairground neighborhood and surrounding communities were left with limited local options. In the years that have followed, this lack of locally available quality food has negatively impacted the local quality of life.

Since no chain grocery stores have moved in to fill that void, and no traditional entrepreneurs and investors have stepped up to replace the store, local residents have taken it upon themselves to create their own community-owned grocery store to serve the area.

Spearheaded by the Fairground Neighborhood Revitalization Organization (FNRO: www.fnro.org), and supported by A.C.R.E.S. and the Center for Community Ownership, community members have come together to plan the development of a new full-service grocery store on an empty lot the FNRO owns at the intersection of Warne and Florissant Avenues.

This is a grassroots bottom-up effort that involves community members planning the project, directly investing as owners, and overseeing the governance of the store.

THE COMMUNITY NEEDS THIS PROJECT

This market will serve the 50,393 St. Louis City residents in the 63106, 63107, 63113, and 63115 ZIP codes. These ZIP codes are north of Delmar Boulevard, which is the racial dividing line (the “Delmar Divide”) between north and south St. Louis, with the areas north of that line historically receiving much lower levels of investment and development capital than the areas south of the divide.

The population of these ZIP codes is approximately 93% African-American, compared to 11% for Missouri, reflecting the consequences of segregation, redlining, and economic disenfranchisement that have challenged this area for many decades.  

These communities contain very high concentrations of individuals who have historically been excluded from wealth-building opportunities. The area struggles with poor health outcomes, and the local life expectancy is in the low- to mid-60s, more than twenty years shorter than other – whiter – parts of the metro area.

Wages are the source of income for nearly 80% of the catchment area’s residents, but nearly 40% of residents’ incomes place them below the poverty level.

The USDA 2015 Food Access Research Atlas found that there are only a limited number of full-service grocery stores in the catchment area, and the region is currently classified as a low-income low-access (LILA) region. Additionally, The 2019 Missouri Hunger Atlas ranked the City of St. Louis as “Very High Need” regarding food and hunger and confirmed that racial inequities exist in access to healthy food.

The 2019 Missouri Hunger Atlas also reported that St. Louis City has a high incidence of individuals with obesity (30.3%), diabetes (9.6%), and hypertension (33.7%.), and a higher prevalence of single-parent households and households that lack food affordability than the state of Missouri overall.

In order to better understand food access, attitudes, and behaviors in the area, listening tours were conducted in 2017. The major themes that emerged from these tours were:

  1. Quality – Residents indicated that the quality of food was generally poor in terms of freshness.
  2. Service or Store Environment – Residents indicated that stores were consistently understaffed, causing long lines and wait times in stores and unfriendly staff interactions.
  3. Product Variety – Residents expressed concerns that desired foods were not available at one location, which required trips to multiple locations. Residents also reported that the store layouts encouraged the purchase of high-sugar, unhealthy, and empty-calorie foods.

The above all suggest that these communities are among the region’s most impoverished in terms of economic status, education, racial diversity, and poor health outcomes, and they are eager for change.

THIS STORE WILL PROVIDE A WIDE RANGE OF BENEFITS TO THE COMMUNITY

Creating a community-owned grocery store in north St. Louis will have multiple positive impacts on the area:

  • Food access
    • This grocery store will restore access to fresh produce and other high-quality grocery items that are currently very difficult to access locally. Fruits and vegetables from local and regional farms will be available to customers, as well as goods produced by local food manufacturers. Since the local community will oversee the governance of the store, product selection will always be culturally relevant and responsive to the desires of residents.
  • Economic Development
    • Not only will this grocery store place a vibrant business directly in the heart of the Fairground neighborhood, activating a major intersection through the transformation of a currently empty lot, but it will also create significant local economic ripples. The store will stock produce from local and regional farms, as well as products from local producers, boosting local economic activity and providing a market for small businesses and entrepreneurs. Additionally, hiring will be focused locally in an effort to provide quality jobs and steady incomes to area residents. This all adds up to a substantial multiplier effect on the local economy, created by a business that will be forever locally owned and locally rooted.
  • Wealth Building
    • In addition to the economic benefits described above, this store will provide community members with a unique opportunity to build wealth through ownership shares in the store itself. Part of the store’s capital will be provided by the sale of equity shares in the business to community members. These shares will enable community members to participate in the governance of the store while also entitling them to a share of the store’s profits as a dividend return on their investment.
  • Community Revitalization
    • Beyond the significant benefits of activating a currently empty lot on a major neighborhood corridor, the creation of this store will also provide a meaningful boost to the social fabric of the community. By providing a gathering place, an activity hub, and a space where community members – particularly elderly neighbors and those with limited transportation options or mobility challenges – can interact, this store will generate tremendous social value.
  • Pharmacy Access
    • Project organizers are currently exploring options for co-locating a pharmacy in the grocery store to help alleviate the pharmacy desert conditions that also burden the community. This will provide access to pharmaceutical consultation and care and will also be an access point for medical screening and other health improvement efforts that are essential to community well-being
  • Social Determinants of Health
    • By energizing and stabilizing the local economy, improving access to health care, improving the neighborhood’s walkability and built environment, and enhancing social connection, this store will be a tremendous driver of positive improvement in the community’s social determinants of health. It is an incredibly efficient way to improve the quality of life in the local community.

THIS PROJECT IS A POWERFUL COLLABORATIVE PARTNERSHIP

The following partners are working together to make this store a reality:

  • The Fairground Neighborhood Revitalization Organization (FNRO) – www.fnro.org
    • This store is being built in the Fairground neighborhood of north St. Louis and is being driven by the local neighborhood association, the FNRO, as a part of its mission to reinvigorate the community. The FNRO is a community-rooted 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that has done neighborhood beautification work, run a program to connect vacant neighborhood properties with buyers, provided food and medical equipment support to locals during the pandemic, partnered with Keeping It Clean to maintain quality of life standards in the neighborhood, supported energy efficiency upgrades in local homes, replaced a local vacant lot with a native plant garden, and worked tirelessly to cultivate community connection among neighbors.
  • Agriculture for Community Restoration, Economic Justice, & Sustainability (A.C.R.E.S.) – www.314acres.org
    • A.C.R.E.S. is a St. Louis-based organization that builds community power between Black neighborhoods and urban and rural farmers, working to create an equitable and sustainable food system rooted in culture. They aim to create a culture that elevates Black Farmers and Black Communities, organizing towards self-determination over their food system and the built environment.
  • The Center for Community Ownership (CCO) – www.centerforcommunityownership.org
    • The CCO is a national organization that provides technical and strategic support to local communities using community investment and community ownership models to build thriving local economies.
  • The Value-Added Sustainable Development Center (VASDC) at Western Illinois University (WIU)
    • The VASDC provides grocery industry expertise, business planning assistance, management training, and other support to ensure the store’s operational success.
  • Several other national and local partners and funders are supporting this project.

SIMILAR PROJECTS HAVE SUCCEEDED AND THRIVED ELSEWHERE

This strategy is innovative, but it has also been proven in other communities around the United States. Some examples of similar community-based grocery stores are:

Those examples each have slightly different models and approaches, but they all demonstrate the importance, potential, and impact of this overall strategy.

For questions, please reach out to fairground.market.stl@gmail.com