Baldwin opens rare town-run grocery store to fill food gap

When the IGA in Baldwin closed a year ago, leaving the town of about 1,500 people with no grocery, Mayor Sean Lynch and the Town Council tried to find a replacement.

But there were no takers.

The big-box chains said the 10,000-square-foot IGA space was too small, and mom-and pop-type merchants said it was too big. Meanwhile, residents had to drive 10 miles to Macclenny or 20 miles to Jacksonville to buy fresh food. Many of the town's seniors and poor residents were unable to make the trip.

Baldwin, in southwestern Duval County, became a so-called food desert, a community with limited access to affordable, healthy food.

So in July, Lynch and the council decided to become grocers — possibly the only local government in the country to do so — and opened the town-owned and operated Baldwin Market.

The city already owned the store formerly occupied by IGA and the land under it, at U.S. 90 and U.S. 301. All it had to do was staff and stock. The store had a soft opening Friday, a grand opening Saturday and has seen a steady stream of customers since then. Sixteen-hundred people visited the store Friday through Sunday, Lynch said.

"It was fantastic," Lynch said. "A little more than I expected."

Two sections were particularly popular — the meats, which sold out the first day, requiring a resupply from a local butcher — and fresh vegetables, he said.

The store is a business, not a nonprofit. The goal is not to make a profit, but to make sure residents have access to fresh food, Lynch said. The council took $150,000 from a reserve fund to hire staff, pay food vendors and rehab the refrigeration system and it plans to repay the money in monthly installments. After the debt is paid, profits will be plowed back into the business, he said.

Lynch is optimistic the store will continue to be a success.

"Everybody wanted it … It was important to the local people," he said.

A food desert is an urban area where at least 500 residents — or at least a third of the population — live at least a mile away from a full-service grocery store or market that sells fruits, vegetables and fresh meat, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Nationwide about 24 million people live in food deserts, and about 2.3 million people live in poor, rural areas that are more than 10 miles from a supermarket, according to the agency.

In Jacksonville 40 of the city’s 173 census tracts have been designated food deserts, according to a consultant working with the city.

City of Jacksonville spokeswoman Nikki Kimbleton said city officials had no comment about the Baldwin Market.

The National League of Cities has not researched government-run grocery stores, so had no information offer about whether other U.S. cities took that approach to food deserts, a spokesman said. Lynn Tipton, the Florida League of Cities university director, said she was unaware of another Florida town having done so.

Shelly Ver Ploeg, food assistance branch chief for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service, said she also did not know of another town running its own grocery store. But she said she appreciated Baldwin's innovation.

"I love the story of this town. They are very resourceful," Ver Ploeg said.

Lynch said research done by Baldwin resident Alice Sapp Bowen found Baldwin was alone in its approach. Bowen, who maintains the All About Baldwin Facebook page, wrote on the closed-group page, "The town owns and has taken the financial risk to provide us with an option … This is truly a first that can be said to be 'only in Baldwin.' I am hometown proud." Lynch provided her post to the Times-Union.

Other communities across the country have come up with other innovative solutions for food deserts: There are nonprofit grocery stores in Baltimore, Denver, Washington and Waco, Texas, while other places have gone the food cooperative route, according to news reports.

Local governments have helped community groups save existing grocers threatened with closing and establish and run new ones. When the only grocery in Onaga, Kan., burned and the owner chose not to rebuild, a local entrepreneur and a bank negotiated a deal with the city to build the grocery store and the City Council allocated $375,000 toward the new building, according to news reports. In Walsh, Colo., and Washburn, Ill., townspeople bought their respective local grocery stores after they closed, and in Leeton, Mo., the local high school runs the town's only grocery store.

Online searches turned up no other market owned and run by a town.

"Rural communities without a grocery store and seeking to develop one have several ownership models open to them," according to a report by the Center for Rural Affairs in Nebraska. "The characteristics and circumstances of the community and its needs will determine which model will work best. All require local support in the form of buying local for the economic feasibility of the store. … Some communities have the leadership and wherewithal to make things happen, others do not."

Baldwin has three convenience stores and a Dollar General, but, after IGA closed, had no full-service grocer, Lynch said.

"We needed to do something," he said.

Lynch drew up a business plan and won council approval. The town hired a full-time store manager with 12 years of grocery experience and 12 part-time employees.

"When you've got something important to do … get it done," he said.

Esther and Bill Atkins, who live just outside the town limits, shopped in the store Saturday. They went just to check it out and get enchiladas but ended up buying $55 worth of groceries, Esther Atkins said.

"I was happy to see something back in Baldwin," she said. How the town tackled its food desert status, she said, was "amazing."

"It was well-stocked … they used a lot of local farmers and vendors." Also, prices were "compatible" to that found in Walmart or other stores miles away, she said.

Baldwin Market will be particularly welcome to the town's low-income residents, many of whom can't afford to drive to other communities, she said.

The council's decision to solve the problem itself also won praise from Feeding Northeast Florida, a Jacksonville-based regional food bank.

"We are committed to a hunger-free community," said President/CEO Susan King. "We support innovative ideas to meet community need and are hopeful the Baldwin Market will fill the grocery store void in the city."

The local Dollar General, which sells a limited supply of food, is also supportive.

Lynch said a staffer told him that the store had been overwhelmed after the IGA closed and "was delighted this took the heat off them."

The new store is not viewed as competition and helps the community, a Dollar General manager told the Times-Union. "It's not hurting our business any," she said.

Lynch is in his third year as mayor and was on the council for five years prior. As the top recent council accomplishments during his tenure go, he said he rates the market opening as No. 2.

The top ranking went to successfully working with state Sen. Aaron Bean, a Fernandina Beach Republican, earlier this year to limit CSX trains from causing extended traffic blockages in the town. No. 3 will be upcoming road and water distribution system upgrades.

"I need a vacation," he said.

Beth Reese Cravey: (904) 359-4109

The Baldwin Market is at 190 Lima St. Hours are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.  Sunday. For more information call the store at (904) 257-9350.

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