A center for all things healthy and accessible – North Market grand opening December 13
This year’s most anticipated project finally comes to fruition with the grand opening of the North Market, Minneapolis’s first combination of a nonprofit grocery store, clinic and community center.
“To nourish and inspire people to live fully healthy lives” is the motto and purpose of this unique enterprise. Pillsbury United Communities (UPC) bought the building on 44th and Humboldt in fall of 2016, and began building what they plan to be the epicenter of all things healthy and accessible.
North Market will take the shape of a 20,000-square-foot retail grocery store, that offers our local neighborhoods a way to improve socially, economically, culturally and physically by encouraging individuals to shop, cook and eat in smarter ways.
The expert team behind the North Market project promises to provide a variety of fresh produce, deli amenities, a baker and butcher, all provided by partners and investors of the Pillsbury United Communities, as well as local resources.
Supervalu is one of Pillsbury’s development partners and one of the resources for the healthy produces that will be coming to the North Market.
“We’ll have both [local foods and large companies] where produce will be coming in, so there will be a variety of healthy and affordable foods,” said Adair Mosley, the Chief Innovation Officer and Interim President of Pillsbury United Communities.
Partners such as Supervalu came onto the team to participate in the development plans, with hopes to address the food desert in North Minneapolis, and build a sustainable space where fresh groceries are readily available. Pillsbury stated in winter of 2016 that in an area of 70,000 people, there were 30 convenience stores and only one supermarket.
Community wellness has been frequently requested by residents and is also one of the three elements that was most valued by the investors during planning, resulting in a community room that will be placed inside the market.
The other two most requested elements of a safe community space include nutritious food and health care, all parts of what Mosley claims to make accessible this winter in a series of programs.
Partners and investors will help to create these programs that include classes to learn yoga, demonstrations on how to cook healthy foods, career readiness training and many more programs that will be available to the community.
Residents will also soon be able to get checkups and health consultations in that area, as North Memorial Health Care will be opening a clinic connected to the North Market, making healthcare available and accessible to the 36,000 residents in the area.
“We want the members of the community to join us and understand that we want to do this with them,” said Mosley.
Up until the beginning of the construction in March of this year, community members and the assembled team made efforts to gather as much information as possible to make sure the residents in North Minneapolis benefit the most from this project.
Meetings were held during various times throughout the year for community members to share their opinions and learn about the project, changing the narrative in North Minneapolis into a self-sustaining and robust hub of opportunities.
The fact sheet from Pillsbury United Communities states that North Market will aim to close the gap in wage disparity by keeping a balanced annual revenue of $3.6 million, and increase the property values in the surrounding neighborhoods.
All profits will be reinvested in the programming and opening of 25 new employment positions at the North Market.
To learn more about how to get involved with North Market, visit mynorthmarket.org and take the initiative to contact the Pillsbury United Communities team.
Pillsbury United Communities will host the grand opening for the North Market at 4414 Humboldt Avenue North on Wednesday, December 13 at 1 p.m. Fresh produce and foods will be available for purchase. All members of the community, and more, are invited to the grand opening of the North Market, and to learn about how to get involved with future programs.