Pastor Chuck Brown hasn't given up on his dream of opening a grocery store on Peoria's South Side.
Harvest Market and Grill was originally planned to open in February 2022. But Brown's encountered several stumbling blocks along the way. He said the biggest barrier has been raising the necessary funding.
“Right now we're raising the final, what we feel would be $75,000, that would get the first phase of the store open,” Brown said. “We probably have about $150,000 invested in now, with the equipment and some of the things that we have done to improve the building electrically and HVAC and such.”
Brown said he’s working with some banks and also is applying to grants through the state, including the Illinois Grocery Initiative. The $20 million initiative was created to bring grocery stores to food deserts in the state.
The store is located at 210 S. Western Ave. and was an Aldi until 2014. Save-A-Lot opened in 2017, but closed less than a year later.
Peoria’s South Side neighborhood has been a food desert for more than six years after Kroger closed its store in the Madison Park Shopping Centre.
Brown signed the lease in 2021, but after his wife passed away, the project got delayed. He said he almost gave up on it entirely.
“Whether we want to admit it or not, business is emotional,” Brown said. “You got to get that fire every morning when you get up. And so it had taken me a little while. So we're back on track and ready to go now.”
Brown said he hopes to open the store's food court, the Harvest Grill, in March. He said that much of the cooking equipment has been donated, but they need to get it all installed and up to code.
The food court will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner. Meals will include stuffed turkey legs, fried chicken and jerk tacos. The grill also will serve coffee and traditional breakfast items.
He said the grocery store will open three to six months after the grill does. They’ve installed a moveable wall that will allow them to open the grocery store in stages if necessary. He hopes to start adding some items like milk and eggs when the food court opens.
Brown said when the grocery store fully opens, it will carry 1,200 essential grocery items, including fresh fruits and vegetables, meat, dairy, baked goods and household products.
He said he wants the store to serve as a community hub.
“The South Side needs a place where people can come together and be seen, be heard, feel safe,” Brown said. “And we want to provide that atmosphere, that fresh concept of business that we're bringing. So we have a better business model than just a regular supermarket from that."
Brown said they also will operate a food pantry to help people experiencing food insecurity.
“Food insecurity for a lot of families is when they run out of money, and they don't have enough to get through the end of the month,” he said. “And so we want to help fill that gap even during that time of food insecurity where families are struggling.”
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He said they’ll also carry goods from local suppliers and will host workshops to help small businesses that are starting out. They also hope to host farmers markets in the summer with produce from local farmers.
The market will also have community days.
“We'll have vendors that come out, whether it's employers that are hiring, blood banks, places that do health screenings,” Brown said. “So you can come over on those community days and we'll be giving out food bags, we might be giving out gas cards, something that's going to help the residents.”
Brown anticipates the market will create about 40 full and part-time positions. A hiring emphasis will go towards residents of the South Side.
Brown said he hears community members' concerns about the delay.
“The community members are ready to kick my butt,” he said. “Every day they go by, I'm out there doing a landscape or whatever they like where's the store gonna open? I go in Kroger's and they're asking me ‘When's the store gonna open up?’ I feel bad now going to Kroger's. But yeah, it's an excitement. It's an energy.”
Harvest Market and Grill is hosting a community forum Saturday at the store to hear thoughts and concerns from South Side residents about the store. There will be a first “Taste of the Harvest Gala” on April 20.
