Weekly pop-up grocery store serving on Chicago's West Side
A weekly pop-up grocery store is serving Chicago’s West Side. It's the latest effort to ensure people have access to fresh food.
CHICAGO - Some Chicago residents say they’re fed up with trying to find good food to eat, which is why some community leaders in West Garfield Park have created a pop-up grocery store — and it happened after the neighborhood’s only big grocery store shut its doors last year.
Wendy Silva of West Garfield Park went grocery shopping Tuesday afternoon in a small storefront that only opens for a few hours each week. "Veggies, fruit for the kids," said Silva, as she scanned a long row of fresh produce.
"We’re looking at a pop-up grocery store," said West Garfield Park activist Angela Taylor. "Ten minutes ago this was just an event space. Now, if you look around, this is a grocery store."
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The pop-up grocery in the 4300 block of West Madison Street opens every Tuesday afternoon and features plenty of fresh fruit and produce, as well as other healthy foods at affordable prices.
It was started six weeks ago by community leaders, frustrated by the sudden closure last year of the Aldi store a few blocks to the east. That closure left West Garfield Park a food desert.
"It’s always good to have someone save you," said Taylor. "But it’s better when you save yourself. And this is a way we can address our food insecurity issues."
Marietta McDuffy discovered the pop-up store recently and said it fills a hole in her grocery needs.
"It is fantastic. I’ve been coming here for a couple of weeks now, since they’ve been here, and I’ve been getting my fruits and veggies," she said.
But this is the last Tuesday the pop-up grocery will be open. They’ve run through a $25,000 grant and are hoping to find new funding for next fall.
"There are the farmers markets that are a great resource for the community," said Tim Kollar of Top Box Foods, a nonprofit agency that focuses on food deserts. "But we’ve also applied for additional funding from that same organization. So we’re hoping to extend it in the fall for a six-month trial period."
And they’re hoping with the success of the pop-up grocery, an entrepreneur will be convinced that there’s a market here for a full-service grocery store again.
"We’re always reaching to do things bigger and better to get out of this hole, so we can be living in a neighborhood and not just in a hood," said Taylor.
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