The Fifeville Neighborhood Association is conducting a survey about community interest in a possible grocery store on Cherry Avenue — and it wants input from members of the Charlottesville and Albemarle community.
The survey should take about five minutes to complete. It closes Tuesday, Nov. 5.
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The Fifeville Neighborhood Association wants to hear what members of the Charlottesville and Albemarle County community want from a grocery store on Cherry Avenue, and whether or not people would be interested in a cooperative model. The organization has put together an online survey, which should take about five minutes to complete. Take it here.
For the past couple of years, the neighborhood association, in partnership with Woodard Properties and Piedmont Housing Alliance, has been working to bring a grocery store back to Fifeville. It’s something residents have long said that they want in their neighborhood.
The groups have a location — 501 Cherry Avenue, on the old Estes IGA Foodliner/Kim’s Market site — and are working on getting the money for it.
They’ve also been in touch with various grocery chains, as well as a few independent ones, but none have expressed interest.
The partners are now exploring the cooperative, or co-op, grocery model. Co-op groceries are community-owned stores where anyone can shop, but only the member-owners are involved in decision-making and receive a cut of the store’s profits.
The purpose of the survey is twofold, Joshua Harris, a member of the Cherry Avenue Grocery Community Engagement Team, wrote in an email to people who’ve been following the project. The neighborhood association is working with RN HEARTwork Health Education, Coaching & Consulting on the survey and other community engagement events.
“We want to know what community members feel are the most important reasons for choosing a particular grocery store,” he wrote. “And we want to find out if respondents know someone who wants to start a grocery store or if they might be interested in being part of a group that wants to found a new non-profit or co-op to own the store.”
The group is also putting together a community-owned food co-op steering committee, and encourages anyone who is interested in being part of it to fill out this form.
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