Organization buys reduced-price grocery store with plans to expand locations

A nonprofit group is taking action to reduce the number of food deserts in Sioux Falls.

Empower Sioux Falls announced today that it has purchased the reduced-price grocery store Fair Market and will use its name for a new grocery initiative it is launching. Fair Market, which opened about 18 months ago and moved into its current location at 4510 E. 10th St., will continue to operate at that storefront.

Empower Sioux Falls plans to open one or two storefront locations over the next three to six months or as soon as facility options in the target areas have been located. Each of the new storefronts will include 60 to 70 staple food items such as rice, carrots, hamburger, noodles and eggs. That differs from Fair Market, which offers long-life food items at a discounted price, not fresh items such as vegetables and meat. Many of those items were returned to grocery warehouses because of damaged packaging, low volume of sales, rebranding or the expiration date is nearing.

“We are excited to pursue this opportunity to meet a tangible need in our community that impacts thousands of people,” Rich Merkouris, chairman of the Empower Sioux Falls board of directors, said in a prepared statement.

“We look forward to continuing to offer an important service to Fair Market’s existing customers and reach new people in neighborhoods with storefronts that carry existing Fair Market products and important staple grocery items.”

Merkouris later described this as a “unique opportunity to meet a need with a current business model.”

He first met with Fair Market owner and founder Kristin Johnson about a year ago and realized her passion combined perfectly with his perspective of community needs.

Empower Sioux Falls received $300,000 from individual community members with some church support as seed capital to launch the grocery initiative.

The organization  announced in January that it wanted to form a nonprofit to open a grocery store in northwest Sioux Falls, which has been designated as a food desert. Merkouris, senior pastor of Kingdom of Glory Church and, as of May, a city councilor, said then that it would be open to the public.

Johnson said the store’s commitment to meeting the city’s grocery needs in a creative and dynamic way remains unchanged. Empower Sioux Falls also announced today it will hire Johnson to serve as executive director of the grocery store initiative.

“I know the food is there; it’s about distribution,” Johnson said. “I hope to be the missing link in Sioux Falls so we can reach more people. There are a lot of services, but people are falling between cracks. We want to shore the cracks up.”

What’s new for the business she started is its relationship to Empower and its broad community connections, she said. This change will take Fair Market to the next level and increase its reach.

A report released two weeks ago indicates that local children are hungry, and more adults are facing food insecurity, particularly in northwest Sioux Falls. The Augustana Research Institute conducted the study for Sioux Falls Thrive. Titled “Food Security and Food Access in Sioux Falls, SD,” it examined food access in Sioux Falls. The study found 17 percent of Minnehaha County’s children are food insecure. That means these children have inconsistent access to the food needed for a healthy, active life, as defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Using a 1-mile criterion for low access, the report states “a significant portion of the northwest area of Sioux Falls is a low-income, low-access area, i.e. a ‘food desert.’”

The study placed the number of Sioux Falls residents who live in food deserts at more than 24,500. Nearly all these residents live a mile or more from the nearest supermarket.

The food-desert issue in Sioux Falls drew more attention recently when Hy-Vee closed a store near 10th Street and Kiwanis Avenue. Andy’s Affiliated Foods at 18th Street and Cleveland Avenue closed earlier this year, but that site will reopen later this year as part of a chain of Mexican grocery stores owned by a Worthington, Minnesota, retailer.

Michelle Erpenbach, president of Sioux Falls Thrive, greeted Empower Sioux Falls’ news with elation.

“This is one of those steps that needs to be taken in order for the community to have access to healthy food,” she said. “It’s just so stinking far from some of these neighborhoods to go someplace affordable to get decent food for a family. This is a great step.”

Merkouris has told Erpenbach he wants to meet with Thrive Sioux Falls’ food security action team to start talking about possible locations.

“Two is a great start, but we have to think strategically now — how do we serve those neighborhoods?” she said.

The food security action team started to increase access to charitable food in remote neighborhoods where a majority of families receive assistance. That goal was achieved by placing mobile food pantries in the neighborhoods. Now, the team will look at expanding beyond that to the concept of neighborhood groceries, Erpenbach said.

“Do you do mobile grocery access, do you outfit a bus that goes into remote neighborhoods? Or a pay-as-you-can grocery?” she said. “(The team) is really thinking through what resources do we have now and how can we make them work better. This process with the Fair Market concept is right up that alley. This team’s going to love that.”

This initiative will not conflict with current efforts to feed the city’s hungry residents but enhance it, Merkouris said.

“We are going to work hard at uniting the community in service to meet this important need,” he said in the announcement. “There is great work being done in the charitable food space by Feeding South Dakota and Faith Temple. Those distributions are important and needed in our city. This effort will focus on bringing a small grocery option to specific neighborhoods where people pay for food.”

The new grocery stores will need 2,000 to 3,000 square feet. They may not necessarily look like traditional grocery stores, Merkouris said.

“We’re just looking for reasonable affordable space,” he said. “The biggest issue is that they are in the correct neighborhood. We will receive all of the product at the main site, so we don’t need loading docks.”

Fair Market opened in March 2021 on South Carolyn Avenue and moved to East 10th Street earlier this year to a location that offers 5,600 square feet. The building was chosen because its loading dock makes it easier to handle food deliveries, Johnson said at the time.

Fair Market customers will see no immediate changes, Johnson said today.

“I’d say it’s not going to ever be less than it is, but it’s possible that it could be more at the current location,” she said.

Fair Market’s emphasis on keeping food from landfills also will continue at the new storefronts, Johnson said.

Empower Sioux Falls, formerly known as Sioux Falls Ministry Center, owns the Empower Campus, once the South Dakota School for the Deaf. The campus is a mall of services where organizations are united in serving individuals and families in Sioux Falls. It includes child care, counseling, utility assistance, transportation assistance and other services.