It’s been a while since I gave an update on The Market @ 25th. As with every other business, COVID has had significant impacts on us. Some challenging, some not so good, and some good (as with other grocers, our sales have improved). Our team has done an incredible job. Their motivation to serve the community has not waned, even after becoming “essential” workers– who would have ever expected that a grocery store worker would be considered an essential, first responder type, employee? We’ve been here for Church Hill, are proud of it, and will continue to serve the community.
Since the beginning of COVID, we have been partnering with Richmond Public Schools to provide bags of food to 300 homeless families in the RPS school districts. RPS purchases the food, we create the bags, and volunteers that were coordinated by RPS take them to the families. This will continue to the week before Thanksgiving.
We’ve also been partnering with Senior Connections to provide food to seniors impacted by COVID. Thanks to our supplier, UNFI giving us special service, when large quantities of food have not been available from other grocers due to COVID limitations, we were able to get Senior Connections the food they need for their seniors.
We are also partnering with FeedMore and Rosie’s Casino to serve people in need for Thanksgiving. FeedMore is purchasing 2,600 roasting chickens that we will be distributing at our store via a voucher system through FeedMore’s agencies and mobile pantry distributions in the Church Hill area, including all the RRHA courts. Thanks to Rosie’s, the first 500 families redeeming their voucher will also receive a $10 TMAT25 gift card.
We expect to be offering EBT on-line ordering by the first of the year. This is where SNAP shoppers can place their order through our on-line shopping platform and either have it delivered or picked up at the store. We continue to offer 50% off for fresh and frozen vegetables and fruit to all SNAP shoppers. We are the only store in Richmond to offer this.
We’ve purchased a van and will have it on the road in two weeks. It will be wrapped with our logo and Hope Pharmacy, along with pictures of fresh fruits and vegetables-you won’t be able to miss it! We’ll use it every day offering rides home to our customers. We will also be using it for pickups, catering delivery, and box lunch delivery.
Take care and stay safe,
Norm
Norm Gold
Developer and Operator
The Market @ 25th
