With the opening of YOURS Market, North St. Louis has one less reason to be considered a food desert where healthy, affordable food is scarce.
On Dec. 10, the market opened its doors at 8005 N. Broadway in a community not particularly known for having healthy markets or the accessibility of healthy food.
The 9,000-square-foot market, owned by a community-based non-profit organization called YOURS Inc., offers fresh local food – not the junk food and liquor familiar from many urban markets.
At the grand opening, co-owner Anthony Shahid introduced the YOURS Market slogan, “Good food because we care about the community.”
In his welcoming speech, Shahid said that many people did not think the market could prosper because it doesn’t sell pork, liquor or cigarettes.
“Our community is a fast-food community,” Shahid said. “We wanted to bring self-pride. This is your market.”
Shahid said the service at YOURS Market also will be distinctive. “You will see us walking ladies to their cars and giving customers tours of the store as they enter,” he said.
To open and stock the market, YOURS Inc. partnered with state Rep. Chris Carter and Lincoln University’s regional horticulture specialist, Karen Davis, to choose fresh products.
Shahid said they plan on expanding the business to include two greenhouses on the land surrounding the market by the spring of 2011.
“You can’t get any more locally grown than that,” Davis said. “Having the greenhouses behind the market will eliminate carbon footprints.”
With crops grown on-site in greenhouses, YOURS Market will be able to teach children about vegetables and how they are grown. Also, students from Lincoln University will be able to work with the market in the greenhouses.
“This will expose all students to different opportunities,” Davis said.
This past summer during the development phase of YOURS Market, Shahid created a garden behind the store, where people from the community could plant their own vegetables and help tend to the YOURS garden as well. Carter said that they had a great response from the community coming out to help with the garden, and children were involved.
Davis said the market will serve as a community center because there will be nutrition educational programs offered at the store.
“There has to be a connection to something greater,” Davis said.
At the opening, many celebrated with a sense of pride about what this market will bring to the community. John Collins-Bey said not only is there a sense of pride, but “a sense of community.”
Collins-Bey said the message of eating to live is promoted through this market, and this is important for a black-owned business.
From the construction of the market to the ribbon-cutting ceremony, the community has been a part of the market every step of the way.
Doug Albrecht, former CEO of Centric Group and former chairman of the Regional Business Council, provided and raised funds for a grocery store in the Baden neighborhood, according to the St. Louis Business Journal.
Kwame Building Group President Tony Thompson introduced Albrecht to Shahid, a community activist and founder of Tauheed Youth Development Life Corp. From there, the partnership between local business, political and community leaders continued to grow.
Kwame provided construction management on the project, which was a gut renovation of a former gas station.
While acknowledging the team of people responsible for the success of the market, Shahid dedicated a moment of silence to a community leader, Tyrone Thompson, someone who made an impact during the beginning stages of YOURS Market.
