A free grocery store has opened inside the Fairmount Heights Branch Library in Prince George’s County.
The Fairmount Five Market is a partnership between Prince George’s County and Goodr, an Atlanta-based company that has opened 34 similar stores across the country since 2021. It is the first Goodr location in the D.C. area and the first permanent Goodr store to open inside a library.
Goodr founder and CEO Jasmine Crowe-Houston said the store will serve more than 200 families each month, offering meat, dairy, produce, juices and other grocery staples, all for free.
“This is a real grocery store,” Crowe-Houston said. “This is not something that’s just giving to people. We really want it to be dignity and treating people well.”
To shop there, residents had to apply in advance. Nearly 200 households were accepted, and there is already a waiting list, Crowe-Houston said.
“They get to come in and go shopping, no questions asked,” Crowe-Houston said. “They get a reusable grocery bag. We ask that they bring it back.”
Organizers said there was a major effort to make the experience as dignified as possible.
“I would often say, in this country, there’s a big difference between access to meals and access to food,” Crowe-Houston said. “It’s one thing to get a box of food that you don’t know really what you’re going to make with it. It’s a completely different thing to come in and pick out things that you’ll go home and cook.”
Fairmount Heights is considered a food desert. Most of the households accepted so far are led by seniors, and Prince George’s County Council member Shayla Adams-Stafford, who helped bring the store to the community, said they no longer have to travel miles to reach basic food options.
“So many of our seniors were suffering in silence, not able to afford grocery store prices, but maybe they made a little bit too much to qualify for food programs,” Adams-Stafford said. “Having a program like this that allows them to come and shop with dignity, it really is going to make a big difference here.”
Families in Prince George’s County can register through District 5 or the library. The store is open on a set schedule, with families notified when they can show up and fill their bag with items they need. On opening day, the selection included green peppers, apples, oranges, bananas and potatoes.
The store is funded through a county grant that will be used to keep it stocked each week, Crowe-Houston said. Prince George’s County Council Chair Krystal Oriadha said a second free grocery store is set to open in District 7 soon.
Maryland first lady Dawn Moore attended the opening, held on World Hunger Day. She said the state is also investing in food access through its “Food is Medicine” initiative, which includes a new Medically Tailored Meals program that launched this month. Moore said the program will provide nearly 1 million meals to more than 3,000 Marylanders.
“These are older communities, they are established communities, but they are deserving of all of the opportunities that every community throughout the state of Maryland can offer and have,” Moore said.
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