By Sarah Truckey
Photograph by Katherine Bish
When it was still just an empty storefront with newspapers taped to the windows, a pack of neighborhood kids passed by the space at 3148 Morganford, then stopped and backtracked once they saw the lime-green walls, shiny countertops and vintage fridges. “What’s this gonna be?” a girl with pigtails asked from her bike. “A grocery store,” co-owner Maddie Earnest replied from inside. The girl’s face lit up. “Wow! Coooooool!”
But it gets cooler: What Earnest didn’t mention was that the store, Local Harvest Grocery, which opened in early June, sells organic, sustainable items, half of which are locally and regionally produced. It was a detail unimportant to the kids—but for their parents, it’s definitely more appealing than shopping for frozen burritos at 7-Eleven.
Local Harvest is a community grocery that sells everything from buckwheat pancake mix and gluten-free flour to grass-fed bison and milk-fed pork. It also sells prepared sandwiches using local meats, salads and a select choice of smoothies, fresh fruit juices and coffee from area roasters.
With options like Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s already available to health-conscious consumers, pushing a small grocery might be difficult. But after meeting with success at the Tower Grove Farmers’ Market, co-owner Patrick Horine was confident that the neighborhood would support him. Better yet, he thought, why not give his local suppliers the option to reach customers on more than just Saturday mornings at the market?
Both the farmers’ market and the store were inspired by Horine’s concern that food found at most grocery stores can travel 1,300 miles to reach its consumers (polluting the air and water along the way) and his appreciation for the connectedness a community feels when buying directly from the producer. To that end, he plans to show video footage in the store of farmers in the area who supply the store.
Horine is a third-generation grocer, and his father has offered his professional expertise—but there isn’t much of a model for a local, organic grocery store in the heart of South City. “The whole store is unlike anything else,” he says.
314-865-5260, 3148 Morganford, localharvestgrocery.com.
