Welcome to 2019- The year of The Market @ 25th

Welcome to 2019, the year of The Market @ 25th!

I have been honored to be part of this great voyage, meeting so many inspirational people in Church Hill. Each one of you have given me the recommendations, feedback, and inspiration to create a store that will be like no other. Our partnerships with The Hope Pharmacy, Lyft, Brewers Café, The Richmond Heritage Federal Credit Union, Mama J’s, and more soon to be announced, will help us offer food and services that you have asked for! I give you my personal guarantee that when you walk into our store, you will say, “WOW!”, and when you leave, your will say, “We will definitely return, and shop here often!”

We are getting closer and closer to our grand opening on March 28th. The equipment (coolers, freezers, shelving) are being delivered and installed, and we will soon start filling them up with the food items you’ve told us you want to see. Staffing our store is just as important as stocking it. We are creating a special welcoming culture and will have superb customer service. To be successful, we must have a team of seasoned professionals, experts in the grocery industry. Our directors, and department managers truly fill these needs. We have been so fortunate to hire the following amazing directors and managers:

Jae Scott- Store Director Demetrius Mitchell- Asst Store Director Kizzi Motley- Operations Director Shaaron Comfort- Asst Store Director, Customer Service Manager

Jason Chalmers- Loss Prevention and Quality Assurance Manager Frantzis Frantz- Bakery/Deli Manager Keith Kahn- Produce Manager

Kelvin Carter- Meat Manager Kenny Jenkins- Grocery Manager Danita Miller- Receiving Manager

I could not have gotten where we are now, and our store simply could, would not be successful without the following expertise. Some of them have been there with me since the beginning, some more recently, but all will be working with me continually to make our incredible community market.

Nicole Brown- our incredible HR Director who has been with me from the beginning

Kristen Rabourdin- our amazing Marketing and Communications Director, also been with me from the beginning

Omari Al-Qadaffi- Our fantastic partner helping us reach local, minority owned businesses for our store. I’ve learned so much from him!

Alex Cordero- Our great CFO who is keeping me honest with my spending

Sarah Gardner- Our wonderful Project Manager who is keep me and all of us on track to open our store on March 28th

James Price- our fantastic IT expert who is making technology work for us

Elva Belsches- our superb Historian who is helping us recognize the truly inspiring history or Church Hill

And, we are currently looking for more individuals with grocery experience. If you want to join our community market, and have this expertise, please come by the Libbie Mill Library this Thursday, January 10, between noon and six for an interview.

We are also extremely happy and proud to give opportunities to local individuals to work in our wonderful store who might not have been given second chances to become self-sufficient. As you know, we are extremely fortunate to have partnered with Caritas to provide professional development training to many of our staff. This partnership will continue even after we open, and we will continually be looking to hire locally, and provide the professional development training for them to be successful.

I will be sending out weekly blogs about our “Market with a Mission”. Please check in weekly for my updates.

Norm