PROVIDENCE – Grocery cooperative Fertile Underground plans to open on the ground floor of the new mixed-use building at 1577 Westminster St. in Providence, the West Broadway Neighborhood Association said last week.
The association, which built the building, said the store would fill a void of food shops in the neighborhood. The store is expected to bring local and affordable groceries to a community where up to 35 percent of people do not own a car.
Founded in 2009, Fertile Underground has planted gardens in vacant lots, backyards, porches, farmland, windowsills and rooftops. The group also operates a garden on Pearl Street in Providence on a piece of property that once housed junk cars.
“We are thrilled to be partnering with Fertile Underground,” said association Executive Director Kari Lang. “Their creativity and passion for growing healthy, good food is exactly what we were looking for in a tenant. By summer, neighbors will be able to walk to buy their weekly groceries, which will be affordable, locally grown and healthy.”
A Fertile Underground food truck equipped with a mobile kitchen will accompany the store. The neighborhood group said the truck is meant to bring healthy food on the road.
“This wouldn’t be possible without years of dedicated work by the WBNA and other groups in the neighborhood to open this path for us,” said Community Outreach Coordinator Dauna J. Noble. “Fertile Underground was in the unique position to answer this call, and it is the community that is rising to meet it. This is the creative community of Providence banding together to inspire and form a lifestyle we can all live with.”
The store plans its grand opening for April 1.
