Brooke Bewak, Photo Courtesy
Fresh Thyme
City Foundry STL continues to roll out fresh ideas.
On November 10, Fresh Thyme Market will open a concept store at 3701 Foundry Way. The 27,000-square-foot store will include a full-service café, products from minority-owned businesses, and a self-checkout model, with an emphasis on local items and fresh produce at affordable prices.
Fresh Thyme Market, a full-service specialty retailer with 70 locations in 10 states across the Midwest, was inspired by the desire to help people live better, healthier lives. “It's real local. It's real value. It's real fresh,” says Jane Wilcox, store director of Fresh Thyme Market at City Foundry STL. Here's what to expect.
Local Look & Products
“I think one of the biggest things that you're going to see is our hyperlocal focus,” says Wilcox. The store is committed to offering more than 1,000 local items, including Bridge Bread and Field to Fire.
Wilcox says her team is working to connect with local vendors. “We have a pretty lofty goal of about 1,500 local items,” Wilcox says. “It puts streamlined processes in place to try to help expedite that process. It is quite a lengthy process for somebody who's just starting a business or who has a little, local company. We want to do everything that we can to partner with them and help them become successful.”
Likewise, the branding will match the neighborhood and development. “Our emphasis is going to be on customer experience and creating a destination store that people are going to want to visit,” says Wilcox. In addition to the wooden ceilings and myriad windows, the store is adorned with a produce-inspired mural created by local artist Grace McCammond.
“There's a lot of great things happening in this part of St. Louis right now," says Wilcox. "Being part of midtown and all the developments going on here is super-exciting.”
Community Connections
The store will also help address food insecurities in the city, one of the major reasons that Fresh Thyme decided to expand to the area, says Wilcox. “[Fresh Thyme] wanted to be able to provide the community with a full-service specialty retailer that can provide them with healthy, organic, and fresh foods at affordable prices."
The store plans to partner with the St. Louis Area Foodbank's School Markets Program, for instance, to provide students and families with healthy options. The store hopes to positively impact more than 1,000 families and further “deepen the store's roots” in the area.
“It's all about community,” Wilcox says. “We want everybody in the community to know that we're here for them and that this is their store.”
