Following the announcement of a pause last month, Northside Food Co-op Executive Director Cierra Washington offered an update during a community meeting this week.

The co-op’s board opted to pause the construction of the proposed store after local developers submitted a bid last year to build a grocery store on a city-owned property on Chestnut Street. The grocery store proposal could change the results of the co-op’s market study, Washington said, prompting the group to take another look at the co-op’s business model and location.

“The Co-op is 100% going to build a store. We just needed time to determine the best way to do that,” Washington said. “So this pause wasn't because we're stopping the project or we will no longer move forward. We just wanted to be responsible with the resources given.”

In early December, the Wilmington City Council approved a $1.7 million bid submitted by Cape Fear Holdings LLC for surplus city properties at 305, 315 and 319 Chestnut St. in downtown Wilmington. A provision included restricts the “principal use of the property to a retail grocery supermarket for a duration of at least 10 years.”

According to North Carolina Secretary of State records, Cape Fear Holdings LLC is registered to Calvin Wells at the Wilmington address of Cape Fear Commercial and Cape Fear Development, which has developed several Publix grocery stores in the Wilmington area and statewide.

The bid approval came around the same time the Northside Food Co-op was working on an updated market study, Washington said Monday during a virtual community meeting. The market study is a tool businesses use to gauge their ability to be successful, she said, by looking at projected customer numbers, sales, competitors and more.

“Market studies reveal some pretty hard truths,” Washington said. “It helps us understand, will we survive as a store? You know, we can open, but will we survive?”

From the beginning, the Northside’s lower population density has made bringing a grocery store more challenging. Wilmington’s Northside neighborhood has long been a food desert.

Even if every Northside resident shops at the Northside Food Co-op, it still wouldn’t be enough to support the store in the long-term, Washington said. They also need business from those driving by, tourists and others who live near downtown.

“With Publix coming, that takes away some of our ability to attract those folks because the Publix is a larger brand, it’s bigger, it’s more recognizable, maybe more familiar to folks,” Washington said. “This is something that, if we don't address it, our store would open, but it would not survive. It would probably close a couple of years after opening.”

The food co-op’s board is exploring adding counter service at the store that would provide customers with takeaway food. Washington described the addition as “something a little bit more than a hot food bar, but a lot less than a sit down formal restaurant” and said it would have a menu informed by the community. Other ideas discussed during the community meeting included a training kitchen, space for food trucks and a programming area for local nonprofits.

The group is also evaluating its location on the Northside. The grocery store is currently slated for a tract at 900 N. 10th St., which the city of Wilmington donated to the group in 2022.

“We're not moving outside of the Northside. We're not even set on moving yet,” Washington said. “We're just seeing if this could be a possibility to increase foot traffic for the store.”

In addition to high visibility and foot traffic, the co-op is looking for a site that’s accessible and near those it serves in the Northside community. 
“Our sales projections are directly impacted by visibility and foot traffic. So if we move to a location potentially that has more foot traffic, that has more visibility, you're going to see an increase in sales,” Washington said. 

Christina Haley, president and CEO of Wilmington Downtown Inc., said in a statement on Tuesday that one or more grocery stores would be “transformational” for the downtown area.

“It would fill a critical gap in services not only for those living in the downtown core but also for residents of the Greater Downtown area who currently lack accessible options near their homes,” she wrote. 

“From an economic development perspective, the presence of a grocery store signals to investors, developers and prospective tenants that downtown Wilmington is a strong and growing community capable of supporting long-term progress. It would help generate new sales tax revenue, strengthen property values, and serve as a key anchor for the next phase of revitalization and growth within the downtown district.”

Haley noted many downtowns have both national grocery chains and community-based co-ops operating in close proximity, “indicating that both projects have the potential to successfully coexist in Wilmington, and each serving a distinct purpose and meeting different needs within the community.”

Throughout the construction pause, Washington said, the Northside Food Co-op has been in touch with its partners New Hanover County and the New Hanover Community Endowment. New Hanover County has budgeted $2.45 million to fund the design and construction of the store, along with up to $1.55 million to help subsidize potential cash flow deficits in the store’s first five years of operation. The New Hanover Community Endowment announced a $6.8 million investment in the project in 2023.

Washington said she hopes to give a final recommendation to the project’s partners in late April, following discussions with community members and the co-op’s development committee.

“We are still evaluating all of our ideas. We don’t have a final concept that we are set on,” she said, “but this is kind of what we've been teasing out and what we're looking for as we continue to do research.”