Columbus’s inner-city neighborhoods like King-Lincoln Bronzeville have struggled in recent history to provide fresh grocery options to its residents, but that is changing.
Grocery shopping near downtown Columbus usually requires a car for most residents. Two Kroger stores and Charmy’s Market have been around for a while, but until recently there has not been much else.
Soon, shoppers who do not want to travel far for fresh fruits and vegetables may finally see some options within walking distance. About half a dozen new stores, ranging from small local grocers to well-known brands, are already open or will be in the coming weeks, months and years.
One of those stores will be Aveneu in King-Lincoln Bronzeville.
Owner Azubuike Akunne is carrying on a legacy his late father brought with him from Nigeria in the 1980s. Chris Akunne opened Phillip’s Pharmacy at 1017 Mt. Vernon Avenue and named it for Azubuike’s grandfather Phillip.
“From Philip to Chris to Azubuike, it's wild,” Akunne said. “He ran it for 20 years and he kept the neighborhood alive with medications, stories, humors, advice.”
Instead of a pharmacy, Aveneu will be a small, cozy nonprofit grocery store and art gallery when it opens June 20.
“Just enough of all you need,” Akunne said of the store's motto.
Akunne said the store is named for his other business NeuBite, which helps enable vending machines to accept SNAP/EBT payments.
The location is within walking distance from thousands of residents in the area, where there was previously no store with fresh produce for miles. Many had to travel down East Main Street to the Kroger near Bexley.
“We're waiting on our beer and wine license, but that's not the most important thing," Akunne said. "We're going to sell canned goods. We're gonna sell like pastas and rice items some home good items also some fruits and vegetables. We're gonna have a bulk section. We're going to have an international section.”
Elsewhere in Columbus, a small store called Farmer’s Larder is in the works in German Village, while local chain grocer Toro Meat Market wants to open in a skyscraper on Gay Street downtown.
Additionally, Giant Eagle announced plans for a new store on the Peninsula in Franklinton.
Toro already opened a new location on Parsons Avenue two years ago, and Lucky’s Market also expanded to Victorian Village that same year.
Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said he has heard about the lack of stores for years. Having more open is part of the city's vision for downtown as it seeks to attract more residents and make the area livable.
“We know that a grocery store helps people see downtown as a place where they can live and raise a family, potentially age in place and meet daily needs close to home,” Ginther said.
Aveneu will aid a neighborhood that has been at the center of this conversation, Ginther said. The city gave Akunne multiple grants totaling over $10,000 to help it open on the Near East Side.
“Having this diversity, this variety, particularly as our city continues to grow and become more diverse,” Ginther said, “it's a great way for us to meet folks where they are.”
In Franklinton, spokeswoman Jannah Drexler said the new Giant Eagle location will be a smaller concept on the ground floor of a larger development. She said an opening date depends on how quickly construction finishes on the 15-story building, which starts this year.
Drexler said the city and her company see the demand in the area and hope it will grow.
“What's really unique about these types of city locations, like you said, is that ability for customers to have it be more accessible,” Drexler said. “So walking, biking, public transportation.”
The store will be next to a stop on the Central Ohio Transit Authority’s bus rapid transit line on West Broad Street and the Capital Line multi-use loop planned for the area. Drexler said despite a smaller 20,000-square-foot space, customers will be able to complete a full shopping trip.
Akunne thinks the driving force behind this grocery store boom is that neighborhoods like his are seeing a demographic shift, specifically that higher-income residents are moving in. However, Akunne wants to attract business from the Near East Side's existing residents, many of whom may not have that spending power.
Akunne wants to take advantage of the Juneteenth on the Ave celebration on the same day he opens the store to spread the word and attract neighbors to his new business.
“The money's there,” Akunne said. “And to touch on that point, the money has always been around. There's a reason why corner stores and any kind of, any other of these stores that exist in these neighborhoods exist.”
Akunne said food access has been important to him ever since he studied human nutrition at Ohio State University. He said he waited to open until he was approved to let customers pay with SNAP/EBT benefits.
It is mind-bending that more people do not see the inherent value in doing business with low-income people in neighborhoods like the Near East Side, Akunne said.
“You can do a lot good by doing business with people that might not have the means that you think that they have,” Akunne said.
The store is already operating online, where customers can order store items. Akunne already began stocking artwork, but there's a big blank canvass on one of the store's wall where he plans to add more.
