Forty Acres Fresh Market Continues to Take Strides in the Austin Neighborhood as they prepare for a first-of-it’s-kind opening next year

Austin looks towards a healthier future (Image: David Wilson/Flickr)

	By Molly O'Mera, Reporter, The Real Chi

The Austin neighborhood has many claims to fame, but increasingly over time, access to healthy food has not been one of them. Many would consider parts of Austin to be a food desert (though the exact definition of this term is loose), along with a growing number of areas on the city's West Side. 

When COVID-19 lockdowns put pressure on our nation’s food supply systems, it was perhaps the worst timing for one of Austin’s only grocery stores to close. The Save-a-Lot on 5555 North Ave shuttered suddenly in late 2020, with no warning to the area’s officials or residents who were left scrambling for interim solutions after many lost their sole access to sole produce within miles.

One such problem solver was Liz Abunaw, a local community organizer and food systems expert who quickly mobilized to find solutions for the Austin area. Having been a fixture at West Side farmers markets over the years after beginning her Forty Acres grocery pop-ups in 2018, she was a perfect fit for this foreboding task, and was up for the challenge, though she may not have realized exactly how challenging it would be. 

“A lot goes into how a grocery store works,” says Abunaw, “It’s in development, coming along a little slower than I thought.”

The vision for Forty Acres brick and mortar store is a mid-size market where Austin residents can visit for essentials to last them in between trips to larger, chain grocers outside of the West Side neighborhood. 

Liz Abunaw at one of Forty Acres’ grocery pop-ups (Image: Forty Acres Fresh Market / Instagram)

Abunaw secured a lot at 5713 W. Chicago Ave, and while nothing currently sits at the site, the team has a tentative opening planned for 2022. In the meantime, they will continue to do farmers market pop-ups, and have just launched a food distribution program with North Lawndale Community Coordinating. 

The idea for the physical store further solidifies Forty Acres’ goal within the Austin community - to combat the social and health disparities created by food systems causing a shorter life expectancy by nine years for Black Chicagoans vs. their white neighbors. Reclaiming and restructuring the food systems in these afflicted areas is a crucial step in the reckoning of these issues.

But as Forty Acres attempts to reclaim this empty space in the local economy, Abunaw must learn the complicated business of store development as she goes along, unlike chain grocers who have researched and dedicated teams for this. 

“We have a cultural memory of Black owned grocery stores,” Abunaw says, referring to the “Soul City Corridor” of Black-owned businesses that prospered in the West Side prior to the area’s economic stall in the 1950s. “There is some necessity, that we have to do this ourselves. But the struggle with that is that it's been so long since we've had these businesses that we are kind of learning how to build them.”

The re-learning is a multifaceted process, as Abunaw has come to realize, while she now deals with things like hiring architects, designing a layout, and financing and selecting a business development team. 

Save-a-Lot received criticism for their sudden exit from Austin amidst a national health crisis. Frustrated local officials and aldermen said they had no idea the location was struggling, and would’ve offered support should the corporate offices have reached out. This speaks to the larger issue of corporations not caring about the often impoverished areas they do commerce. The mission of Forty Acres is much different, as locally owned grocery stores tend to care more about the community, and hire more thoughtfully, with an overall operation that aims to improve the surrounding area. 

It is this ethos of community negligence by corporate businesses which has created a cyclic effect of food deserts as these entities malnourished the communities around them. Abunaw sees this clearly, noting that it “seems as though the only businesses that want to enter our communities are ones that offer cheap inferior goods, or service.”

Forty Acres has already received an outpouring of local support and press -- be it thumbs ups from passersby on the street or phone calls from folks wanting to invest in the business -- to the point where local excitement from neighbors has grown into impatience. People are both reassured and inspired to see a vision as singular, simple, and wholesome as Forty Acres come into fruition. 

Abunaw is thoroughly pragmatic in her approach, with a no-nonsense attitude that is sure to aid in operating a flagship retail business. Her goals are concise; “to set this door up for the greatest chance at success,” but with this trailblazing approach, she may end up setting an entire blueprint for social change, as well.