Indy Fresh Market brings fresh options to food desert
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowNearly two years since ground was broken, a new grocery store designed to eliminate a food desert on the near northeast side of Indianapolis is open.
The Indy Fresh Market was developed by Bloomington-based Cook Medical Inc., which also built a nearby medical device manufacturing plant and is part of an attempt to revitalize the area of 38th Street and Sheridan Avenue.
Prior to the market opening, United Northeast Community Development Corp. CEO Ashley Gurvitz says residents would either have to drive miles outside of the neighborhood or rely on nearby gas stations and corner convenience stores to get their food, creating “disparity effects for overall good health.”
Speaking with Business of Health Reporter Kylie Veleta, Gurvitz said she lights up every time she comes into the Indy Fresh Market.
“It’s such an experience, not only from an economic development aspect, showing you can partner with community, but really just that sense of pride that neighbors have always wanted,” she said. “That’s what people are experiencing, and it’s just so amazing. And my mind right now is like, ‘How do we keep this going long-term?'”
Cook Medical partnered with Goodwill of Central & Southern Indiana in 2020 to begin building the $15 million manufacturing facility, which opened in May 2022 and makes various products such as drainage catheters and needles. The plant could ultimately employ up to 200 people in a predominantly Black neighborhood that has seen economic struggles.
As the company was developing plans for the facility, neighborhood officials noted the lack of access to healthy foods in the area, and the decision to build the grocery store on land donated by Cook was born.
Gurvitz said she is thankful for Cook CEO Pete Yonkman’s effort to combine the entrepreneurial spirit with the social consciousness of the neighborhood to find an innovative solution to address key economic issues.
“Being able to have that co-created mindset has had a rippling effect with other economic development projects and forever, it’s setting a new blueprint that we do matter, and that we can, again, increase the value of our dollar but also increase our livelihood within our own backyard.”
The Indy Fresh Market is currently owned by Cook, but over time, the ownership will transfer to local entrepreneurs Marckus Williams and Michael McFarland, who previously ran a small corner convenience store nearby.
Williams and McFarland are managing the store and, through a lease-to-own agreement with Cook, will eventually own the store and the land on which it sits.
“[It’s like] going from the minor leagues to the major leagues, junior varsity to varsity. It’s a big step, a lot of learning curves, a lot of blood, sweat, and tears,” Williams said. “Giving back to the community, that’s what it’s all about.”
Williams said he is excited not only to give the community a place to get fresh food, but also provide jobs to local high school students.
Gurvitz said the project showcases how local entrepreneurs can be successful in their neighborhood.
“If we put up the upfront capital, how can that help with generational wealth?” she said. “And that’s exactly what this store is going to do. So, not only is it great to see Michael and Marcus as they started off with corner convenience store, that now they have an over 17,000-square-foot grocery that will be theirs. It’s just amazing.”
Part of Cook’s vision for the project is that it would have a snowball effect in the neighborhood, which is now happening. Right next door to the grocery store, construction is underway on a new Eskenazi Health Center, with a bank and a residential project with 400 single-family units also on tap.