Community leaders and City officials gathered for a Hardhat Construction Tour of Jim’s Local Market, held Monday, April 11, from 8 AM to 3 PM. Nearly 100 guests, including members of City Council, Economic Development and Housing Authority Boards, the faith community, citizens, and representatives from the Virginia Peninsula Foodbank, Bon Secours, and the American Heart Association, got a sneak peek at the highly anticipated new grocery store for the Southeast Community of Newport News. What they saw was a great solution for ready access to healthy food for the community. The store is being built by the City in conjunction with the City’s Economic Development Authority. The City Council established a new grocery store as a high priority for the community with the closing of the community’s only other store. The project was fast tracked and built much faster than normal for such a project. The store will be leased to Jim’s Local Market. Several media outlets were on-hand to cover the event.

Hosted by the City Manager and staff, the half-hour tours were narrated by store founder and operator Jim Scanlon, who shared his vision of how this new neighborhood grocery store will help to transform access to food for the community, and positively improve healthy nutrition, financial literacy, and employment opportunities for the neighborhood. Guests were pleased and shared their excitement in anticipation of the store’s completion. Jim’s is located at 3101 Jefferson Avenue, in the Brooks Crossing development. A Ribbon Cutting and Grand Opening Ceremony is scheduled for May 10.



Links to stories:
WAVY
WVEC 
Daily Press