Two years after Living Word Church took over Living Fresh Market grocery store, it is eyeing an ambitious expansion that could see three to four locations open in the Chicagoland area and Tuskegee, Alabama.
The church, which owns the Forest Park Plaza, where the store is located, ended up taking over the store after the previous owners left and it couldn’t secure another tenant.
Melody Winston, who managed the plaza and became a store manager once the church took over, said that they tried to expand the inventory and reached out to Forest Park and Chicago area vendors. And they are actively trying to put more stores in communities that don’t have many grocery options.
Winston said that they are fairly far along with Tuskegee store, as well as a store in Maywood and Bronzeville, the historic commercial and cultural heart of Chicago’s Black community. The church is also actively negotiating to put in a store in North Lawndale. Winston said that as of Dec. 4, they were still discussing details, and she wasn’t prepared to share details about the location or opening by publication.
Living Fresh Market opened at the former Ultra Foods location in 2018. It was operated by brothers Daniel and Ken Casaccio, who also owned two West Side of Chicago grocery stores – the Leamington Foods in Austin and Freshway Market in North Lawndale.
When the church’s takeover of Living Fresh was announced in October 2021, Ken Casaccio declined to discuss what happened. In a recent interview, Winston said that when they became aware that the Casaccios were leaving, she “talked to Mariano’s, talked to Pete’s, a lot of big boys” about taking over the space.
“And in the middle of me talking to a prospect, my father [Living Word Church founder Rev. Bill Winston] told me to keep the space, keep the keys and run it,” she said.
While Winston found the prospect daunting, because she had “no information, no knowledge on how to run a grocery store,” she decided to try her best.
“And here we are, 2023, and the store is pretty full of customers doing their holiday shopping right now,” she said. “We have full bakery, where they’re baking cakes and pies, we have a full butcher, where they’re cutting custom cuts of meats, we have a [prepared meals area] where people can get their hot lunches and hot dinners.”
Maywood currently doesn’t have its own full-fledged grocery store, and Winston said that they decided to pursue opening a Living Fresh in the village after hearing from local officials. Tuskegee is Bill Winston’s hometown, and the family decided to explore putting a store over there after spotting a vacant space in the mall.
Winston said that they expect to open Maywood, Tuskegee and Bronzeville stores “in 24 months.”
The North Lawndale neighborhood currently doesn’t have any full-fledged grocery stores other than Freshway Market. The neighboring East Garfield Park and West Garfield Park communities don’t have any grocery stores at all.
Winston said that they are having conversations with Rush System for Health and other community stakeholders about opening the store in the neighborhood. Rush did not respond by deadline for comment.
With Living Fresh, Winston made the point of connecting with local entrepreneurs – an approach they intend to continue at the future locations. Early on, they reached out Brown Cow ice cream parlor and creamery.
“They have their ice cream and the cakes, and that’s an example of the partnership we went after,” Winston said. “Next thing you know, you have [Forest Park Chamber of Commerce] members reaching out to other chamber members. So, I think it’s a chain reaction.”
They also reached out to the BBQ chef Dominique Leach, who grew up on the West Side and opened a restaurant in the Far South Side’s Pullman neighborhood.
Living Fresh hosts monthly vendor demonstrations, where customers can try free samples. The Dec. 16 demonstration, which will run between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., will feature Leach, as well as Stephanie Hart, owner of the South Side’s iconic Brown Sugar Bakery. The bakery used to have an Austin location at the Westside Health Authority headquarters.
“I think, once you get the roots planted and you start growing on the ground, it makes the store and the community, and the children and families, inseparable,” Winston said.