CHICAGO — For many Chicagoans, access to healthy, affordable foods at a grocery store is outside
their neighborhood.
But two friends who grew up on the city’s West Side have been working for years to revitalize their
childhood stomping grounds and bring an upscale grocery store to the area.
Friends and business partners Thom Alcazar and Walter Kindred hope to transform this lot near the
intersection of Madison and Cicero in Austin into an upscale 38,000 square-foot grocery store and
food distribution center.
“In our Black communities, we have many food deserts, and the major stores don’t want to come,”
Kindred said.
Tied to the community, the long-time friends say they want to see their old community thrive
again.
The entrepreneurs hope to do that through the first-ever Eats Groceries.
Alcazar describes the concept as a retail warehouse similar to a Costco or Sam’s Club.
“You don’t have to buy in big quantities. You can also get all of the supermarket-type products. You
just have to buy what that particular warehouse sells,” Alcazar said.
Eats Groceries would offer coach buses for seniors within a mile of the store, childcare and touch
screen kiosks, along with warehouse staff to assist customers.