Mobile Grocery Store Will Deliver Goods To Food Deserts

When people don’t have something they need, there are two basic solutions: They go get what they need, or what they need is brought to them. Jeremy Goss, Tej Azad, and Colin Dowling were well aware of food deserts, low-income areas with poor access to grocery stores, so they co-founded St. Louis MetroMarket, a nonprofit that will use a retired Metro bus, retrofitted into a mobile farmers’ market, to bring healthy food to underserved urban areas. 

It provides a solution similar to a brick-and-mortar grocery store but without the prohibitive expense. The bus has been equipped with shelving and refrigeration units, so it can stock produce and other healthy foods. In partnership with Saint Louis University’s Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, it will also offer lessons on healthy eating. 

Groceries will be sold on a sliding scale, with discounts offered to local residents who need them. And to help offset costs and raise awareness, Goss plans to negotiate membership fees with corporations to allow the MetroMarket bus to sell healthy, affordable food to employees at corporate campuses.