Forty Acres Fresh Market Breaks Ground on Space

Liz Abunaw, founder of Forty Acres fresh Market, during the groundbreaking for the brick-and-mortar space. Photo provided by Flowers Communications Group.
Liz Abunaw, founder of Forty Acres fresh Market, during the groundbreaking for the brick-and-mortar space. Photo provided by Flowers Communications Group.

 

Forty Acres Fresh Market Breaks Ground on Space


By Tia Carol Jones

 

Liz Abunaw began her quest to provide quality, affordable produce to residents in Austin in 2018 when she launched Forty Acres Fresh Market. She recently broke ground on a brick-and-mortar space for the endeavor and took time to answer some questions.



Citizen Newspaper: When we spoke in September of last year, you spoke about wanting a brick-and-mortar space for Forty Acres Fresh Market. How does it feel to be breaking ground and being close to having that desire realized? 


Liz Abunaw: Feels surreal. I think that breaking ground makes it more concrete. It makes it more real. When I started, I did not know the path to get here, and so it is definitely a little bit surreal to see it actually come to some type of concrete fruition.


With that being said, it's not done, so the store is not open yet. Construction is one milestone, it's not a completed task. We've been talking about construction happening for so long that it felt almost like this mythical and now that we're in the midst of it, it's actually happening very quickly. So now I'm like, oh, oh crap, now it's really happening! It's getting built and then what does that mean? Once it's built, it still has to be supplied, it has to be staffed. There's a lot to do. That checklist becomes more imminent. It makes everything else that goes along with opening the store feel more urgent. It's no longer a long lead time item, these decisions need to be made now.


 

CN: Why have you stayed so committed to your mission to provide affordable produce to the Austin community? 

 

Abunaw: So that's not our mission. Yeah, our mission is to make fresh food accessible to everyone. We do not believe that your zip code should determine your health or your access to food and we believe that if you increase access to the neighborhoods and the communities with the least amount of access, that is how you increase access for everyone.


You've got to think of it like a curb cut. People with wheelchairs aren't the only people that benefit from a curb cut on the sidewalk. Parents with strollers, people that have little carts like laundry carts, grocery carts, pedestrians, if you're on crutches, if you're an elderly person, one time my mom tripped on a curb, she's not on a wheelchair, she walks just fine, but curb cuts benefit everyone. So, when you focus on the needs of accessibility for the group that needs accessibility the most, you wind up increasing accessibility for everyone.


I see Austin as a community where their needs are not met, where their demands are not being met, where there's a customer that is not being fully served, or there's a customer that's not being catered to. I believe that if you do right by them, if you build a grocery model that works for them and their communities, you're really expanding access for people everywhere.



CN: What has it taken to get you to this point where you are able to break ground on a brick-and-mortar market?


Abunaw: First, you have to build enough credibility where people think you can do it because you're going to have to go find money and the funders want to know that they're backing a credible business, that they're backing an owner with some level of expertise.


Then you need to find the actual site. Then you have to put together your design team, your architecture team, your engineering team, you need builders, you need champions and supporters. So that's your alderman, that's the city, that's the state. Our state reps have been amazing. State senators have been amazing. Alderman (Chris) Taliaferro has just been a champion for this project. We said, hey, we need our driveway to open into the alley, we need an alley access permit. He's at city council meetings presenting the ordinance to get that done for us and getting a pass for us. If it's fundings State Rep Camille Lilly is getting funding for this project in the budget, in the state's budget. It's finding great partners.


I found West Side Health Authority and they were the best, they were the best organization for me to partner with on the development of the real estate. They've done other real estate developments in the Austin neighborhood and for them to partner with me and getting this site that was once a former Salvation Army completely reimagined into really a grocery store that's a work of art. A store that's not just functional but offers really pleasing architecture, engaging architecture and design. We're combining so many different elements to make it a place that is more than transactional. It's not just a place where there's fruits and vegetables and meat and milk and dry goods. It's a beautiful place to look at. It's a place that invites you in and has really great light and sight lines and things to see and smell.


So, I'm just really, really excited about that but it takes the village. It takes a great architect; it takes great store designers. Latent Design are our architects. Retail Planet was our store plan and store designer. StoreMasters also contributed to store design, and now they're doing our equipment. Millhouse Construction is building this thing faster than we can ever imagine. So, it takes a lot of different sources.

 


CN: In the meantime, how will you continue to provide affordable produce to the community while construction on the market is going on? 

 

Abunaw: Yeah, so we're going to keep doing what we've always been doing. We just wrapped our 2023 season of the Austin Town Hall City Market farmer's market. We are continuing to offer produce delivery services. Our delivery service expands throughout the entire city of Chicago, Northside, Southside, Westside.


I really want to make it clear that what we do is not only for the Austin community. We're not limited. Regardless of your neighborhood, if you shop with us, you're getting an amazing box of produce delivered to your home. You're shopping at a really fun farmer's market. You're adding to what's happening and bringing more to those communities that didn't have it.


I think there's like a huge, huge imbalance of trade in Chicago where the working class resides. Black and Brown communities, those residents leave their neighborhood and spend money in Oak Park or in Hyde Park or in River North or in just neighborhoods where they don't live, enriching those neighborhoods while there remains to be limited resources in theirs. So, I think that shopping with us reverses that trend. You don't take anything from Austin, you're actually investing in it. We can get goods and services here and we can enjoy more Chicago neighborhoods. So, I say shop in with us. It's easy. We make it easy. Go online. Order your produce.


CN: What is the timeline for construction of the market? What is the anticipated completion and opening date? 

 

Abunaw: To be very clear, completion of the store does not mean the opening of the store immediately. There are things like licensing, inspections, staff training, supplying and stocking the store. All of that stuff takes time and there's way too much variability to predict right now how long that that will take.


Expected completion is June, July of 2024. Do we want that? Absolutely, are we shooting for that? Absolutely, but are there things that could possibly happen that are out of our control that could prevent that? I will be more confident to project the opening date when we have 75 percent of the construction completed.


CN: How has the community supported you in your endeavor to provide affordable produce? How can they continue to support you?

Abunaw: The community supported us from day one. Austin Town Hall City Market has been an amazing collaboration between Forty Acres Fresh Market. The community has come with resources, with people, and most importantly, with a willingness to give us a chance to service them as consumers by shopping with us. And that's the best way to support, honestly the best way to support any business is to shop with that business. It's really helpful.
For more information about Forty Acres Fresh Market, visit https://www.fortyacresfreshmarket.com.

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