Petersburg cuts the ribbon on its first Goodr Mobile Grocery Store; officials rave over impact

PETERSBURG – Questions about the future of a brick-and-mortar grocery store swirled like the Tuesday afternoon winds at a dedication ceremony for a new mobile supermarket to serve the city.

The overall response to those questions was this: It’s still coming, but the Goodr Mobile Grocery Store, whose opening ribbon was cut in the parking lot of the Petersburg Public Library, will complement that store when it finally is built.

“This is just building toward our big day when we have another grocery store here,” Petersburg Mayor Sam Parham said during an impromptu news conference after the ribbon-cutting. “This right here really sets the metrics in place for what a grocery store in Petersburg demand will be. We’re laying the foundation here, so this is just the beginning.”

Parham was joined by Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Petersburg’s General Assembly representatives and others for the dedication of the mobile market. The event was Goodr’s ceremonial opening of the 26-foot truck because its schedule was still being finalized. It is expected to hit the road, though, in the next couple of weeks.

Goodr, an Atlanta-based initiative designed to combat food insecurity among low-income and no-income households, teamed with Amazon, Anthem, Bon Secours and Comcast to launch its second mobile market in Virginia. Shelves inside the truck are loaded with all the nutrition necessities, including frozen and other prepared foods that are available free of charge to anyone who visits it.

It’s part of the Youngkin administration’s multi-pronged “Partnership for Petersburg” program addressing all aspects of life in the city. One of those prongs concerns the “food desert” status Petersburg has as a city devoid of many major retail grocery stores – only Food Lion and Walmart are the only big-box grocers within the city limits, and they are in southern Petersburg.

Last year, the partnership announced plans for the Sycamore Grove mixed-use development on the site of the former Southside Regional Medical Center near downtown that will be anchored by a major grocer. Despite promises since then that the new store was close to being revealed, some residents expressed concerns that the supermarket was not coming and that Goodr was a replacement for it.

Tuesday afternoon, Parham and Youngkin elaborated on the status of the grocery store. Youngkin noted that most of the preliminary work, such as necessary site approvals and designs, has already been done.

“It’s been a solid 15 months of real hard work getting all this together,” the governor said. “There’s still a little more work to do, but we’re pretty darn close.”

“We’ve been in discussions with various operators,” Parham added. “We just completed a feasibility study just to be able to set the bar for what is to be here.”

The mayor said events such as Tuesday’s provide data “that major retailers want to see.

“This right here is going to show that demand,” Parham said.

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'Opportunity to nourish'

At the ribbon-cutting ceremony, speakers lauded the promise that having a mobile market will bring to Petersburg.

Del. Kim Taylor, R-Dinwiddie County, said attendance at the ceremony “underscores your commitment to addressing the critical food issues” in Petersburg.

“This innovative solution ensures that anyone, regardless of their circumstance, has the opportunity to nourish themselves and their loved ones,” Taylor said.

Sen. Lashrecse Aird, D-Petersburg, said the mobile market reminded her of “my own humble memories and beginnings ... beginnings that teach you to do less with more and sometimes even without.” She said it was a challenge many in the area face today that spilled over into other aspects of life.

“Our communities with so many vulnerable families that face this challenge, it evolves into become not only just about food at that point,” Aird said. “It’s intrinsically linked to a child’s ability to grow and learn, it invites additional poor health outcomes, and it stunts the growth of a community overall.”

Youngkin called the dedication “a milestone on so many fronts” in the Partnership for Petersburg program.

“When we first sat down together and started talking about our Partnership for Petersburg, one of the primary challenges was that Petersburg is a food desert. It’s a grocery-store desert,” Youngkin said. “And one of the big challenges that Petersburg residents face is access to fine, healthy and oh, by the way, quality choice of food.”

Jasmine Crowe, founder and CEO of Goodr, said she was “really honored” to bring the mobile market to Petersburg. She said she built up the company because she knew what it was like to be on the other side of hunger.

“I wanted to give people dignity and choice,” Crowe said, “giving people an opportunity to get on a bus and go grocery shopping minus the price tag.”

Following the speeches and ribbon-cutting, attendees were given tours of the mobile market.

Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is an award-winning journalist who covers breaking news, government and politics. Reach him at batkinson@progress-index.com or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @BAtkinson_PI.

This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Goodr food-security initiative unveils mobile market for Petersburg