Food insecure community receives brand new grocery store

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - A much-needed resource is now available in Raleigh.

For years, parts of the area have been a food desert, with residents oftentimes relying on convenience stores or having to commute to get the groceries they may need.

But a new grocery store officially opened its doors on Saturday.

“This is a whole new ballgame,” Resident Helen Miller said.

Miller tells Action News 5; she’s had to travel outside of her Raleigh neighborhood for fresh groceries for the past decade.

But thanks to the faith-based nonprofit For the Kingdom, she’ll no longer need to travel far for fresh food.

“For my neighborhood to get this...it is huge,” Miller said. “I tell everybody about it. It is the most wonderful thing because [now we] have a place. If you don’t have [and] if you need [for anything] you can come here and get these items.”

The Exodus Marketplace is a new micro-grocery store meant to address food insecurity in Raleigh.

It’s now the only grocery store on Raleigh Millington Road.

“You’re talking thousands of families that currently are living in a food desert, so to us, it means if Raleigh is a Monopoly board we just put a grocery store in play, which we hope challenges the ethics of our local gas stations, our Dollar Generals.” Torrey Bates said.

Bates is the executive director of For the Kingdom.

He says talks of a new store that started 3 years ago.

He also says he’s grateful for city leaders and organizations coming together to bring another resource to the community.

“We hope that it challenges Raleigh as being a place of food abundance,” he said.

“We want to see this duplicated throughout our community and hopefully in other communities where we see food deserts,” Shely County Commissioner Charlie Caswell said.

For Memphis City Councilwoman Rhonda Logan, this store is just the beginning of even more progress she expects to see in her district.

“They have just been a breath of fresh air in this community, " Logan said, “They have [worked alongside] the community partners that are here, and we all have banded together to make certain that the people in the area and across Memphis now their needs are met, they’re taken care of, and they’re serviced.”

“It’s been a long time coming,” For the Kingdom Board Member Mark McDonald told Action News 5.

For the Kingdom’s Exodus Marketplace will be open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m., and from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. for working families.

The store offers a 45-dollar annual membership program which allows one free shopping experience a month, and 10 to 20 percent off store items.

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