Richmond community celebrates groundbreaking for new grocery store
By John Ramos
On Saturday, in North Richmond, there was a celebration of the return of a local grocery store.
For decades, the neighborhood has been without a place to buy healthy food, and now, as ground is broken for a new store, residents say it will become a community focal point.
Historically, North Richmond is a place that suffered redlining, and starting in the 1990s, it began losing the local grocery stores that served as anchors to the community. But lately, some good things have been happening.
The Heritage Point apartment complex on Fred Jackson Way was built in 2019, offering 42 affordable units. De’Jon Boyd lives there but, being on foot, it’s not always easy when he has to buy something to eat.
“It’s about, like, if you’re walking, it’s about 20 minutes,” he said. “It’s a little harder. And it would be a blessing to actually have a grocery store that’s next to us.”
That’s a blessing that may soon come true. On Saturday, a nonprofit called the Community Housing Development Corporation, which built the apartment building, held a ceremonial groundbreaking on a new grocery store, right next door, that they will own and lease to a private operator.
“Because it’s not just about where people live. It’s about the possibility of how well they can live,” said CHCD Board President Jennifer Hicks.
“We call this place home. And a grocery store is part of the infrastructure of what makes things happen,” said CHDC Executive Director Don Gilmore. “It means to have a place in your community that you can walk to, that you don’t need a form of transportation to get to because it’s right in your backyard.”
That means more than just convenience for the working-class residents of the neighborhood. Doria Robinson runs Urban Tilth, a North Richmond farm operation that produces fruits and vegetables for local stores. But she said with nothing close by, it literally changes the way people eat.
“When you don’t have the time, or you don’t have a vehicle and you have to catch the bus, that trip to the store is going to be getting things that are not perishable, so you don’t have to go over and over to the store. You’re going to get packaged, processed foods. Which is the enemy of health. It doesn’t help you at all.”
The grocery store was supposed to be built seven years ago along with the complex, but it didn’t work out. And local county supervisor, John Gioia, said he’s been talking about the need for a store in the area for the 28 years he’s been in office.
“Yes, we were going to do this project originally as part of the housing project. But we didn’t stop when it couldn’t happen,” he said. “We talked about this, but it was the community vision that kept it going.”
Funding for the project is coming from businesses and charitable groups, and construction is expected to be completed in about a year. No private company would locate a store in the area, so the community is doing it for themselves.
They believe it will become a gathering place that will bring the neighborhood together
