There’s a new effort to make fresh fruits and vegetables available in downtown Flint.
It’s not easy to find fresh produce in Flint. But that’s a market that Franklin Pleasant hopes to fill.
“The climate has changed in terms of full service grocery stores in town,” says Pleasant. “Quite a few have closed in the past couple of … years and we want to fill that gap. So that’s why we’re here and that’s why we know it will work.”
Pleasant and his partner Erin Caudell have been operating the Local Grocer stand at the Flint farmers' market for the past few years. But they wanted to expand. They raised $30,000 through a Kickstarter campaign to open their grocery store just north of Flint’s downtown.
They moved into the old Witherbees market this fall.
About a third of the produce on the shelves comes from their Beecher farm.
Erin Caudell says they want to meet the need for fresh fruits and vegetables.
“All from local farmers and producers,” says Caudell. “I think there is a really nice selection, which is only going to expand as we make more relationships.”
They plan to continue to expand their selection of Michigan-made and grown products.
