The Charlotte City Council approved on Monday $1.5 million to develop a grocery store to address the lack of healthy food in one of the city’s low-income Corridors of Opportunity.
West Boulevard Neighborhood Coalition executive director Sharika Comfort said the Three Sisters Market cooperative grocery store will fill a major need in the community.
“That funding will go towards the construction of the market, which will then allow us to supply community needs through fresh produce and having a grocery store option in the West Boulevard corridor,” Comfort said.
A 2015 report by the Charlotte Mecklenburg Food Policy Council highlighted the West Boulevard corridor and two other low-income communities as high-risk areas for food insecurity due to a lack of full-service grocery stores. The city’s portion of the funding comes from federal coronavirus relief funds. Mecklenburg County has also committed $3.25 million towards the market’s total cost of around $10 million, with an additional $750,000 coming from the 12th Congressional District’s Community Project Funding.
The coalition plans to start a campaign this year to raise the remaining funds. The Three Sisters Market will also be designed to accommodate a range of community functions.
“It will be a two-story facility, and the plan is to have one floor consisting of community meetings and event space,” Comfort said. “It will be a safe place for community members and residents to not just receive that fresh produce that’s direly needed, but to meet and gather safely.”
According to the city, the store is expected to break ground near Clanton Road and West Boulevard next year.
