Garfield Park Pop-Up Grocery Store Returns As Plans For Permanent Grocer Move Forward
GARFIELD PARK — Organizers in Garfield Park have reopened a pop-up grocery store as they look forward to a development that will bring a permanent grocer back to the neighborhood.
The Garfield Park Grocery Pop-Up, 4316 W. Madison St., is open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday through Dec. 30, offering fresh produce, meat, dairy, dry goods and cleaning supplies.
Launched in spring 2022, the pop-up store is hosted by the Garfield Park Community Council in collaboration with the Garfield Park Rite to Wellness Collaborative and West Side United.
The pop-up, across the street from the under-construction Sankofa Wellness Center, started in response to the abrupt closure in October 2021 of the Aldi store at 3835 W. Madison St. in West Garfield Park. The closure left some 15,000 West Side residents without access to a grocery store.
Last month, the city selected a development to replace Aldi that will include a new grocery store, restaurant and affordable housing.
The pop-up, which served 663 customers last year, fills the hole left by Aldi, said Samantha Taylor, commercial district manager of the Garfield Park Community Council and manager of the Garfield Park Grocery Pop-Up.
“We’ve been received by the community very well, with just the fact that we are able to have fresh produce,” Taylor said.
Taylor’s role includes finding local vendors for the pop-up, which sells items at the same market-rate prices at which they’re purchased. Fresh fruits and vegetables are provided through Market Produce, 2530 W. Madison St. in East Garfield Park, and meats are from Mario’s Butcher Shop, 5817 W. Madison St. in Austin.
The pop-up also offers recipe cards from Rush Hospital for healthy meals, and it accepts and matches up to $25 in purchases through the Link Match program.
Taylor said she’s hopeful the new grocer going into the development at the Aldi site, which is about five blocks east on Madison Street, will serve the needs of neighbors who are customers of the grocery pop-up.
“I’m happy to see that there’s something else going into that space, which will bring more residents into Garfield Park, as well as that, [the city of Chicago] also kept in mind that we needed the grocer,” Taylor said.
“But if the [pop-up] is needed, we will still be here,” she said.
As the development makes its way through the city’s approval process, the Garfield Park Community Council is hosting community dinners at St. Michael Missionary Baptist Church, 4106 W. Monroe St., to discuss the project. Check the council’s Facebook page for information on upcoming dinners.
