Much of Wilmington’s greater downtown area is a USDA designated food desert. But a local grocery store is looking to change that.
Tidal Creek is a consumer coop, which differentiates them from other grocery stores. Instead of generating top dollar, their goal is to provide a service. Jason Blake-Beach, the general manager of Tidal Creek, says the store is looking into two possibilities that would bring a full service grocery store to greater downtown Wilmington. They’ll either keep their current location on Oleander Drive and open a second shop. Or, they might completely relocate and open a bigger store.
Jason Blake-Beach says the new shop would expand options using a crossover model:
"Throughout our history, we’ve primarily focused on natural and organic product offerings, but a piece of the puzzle would be us expanding our product line to include more, to reach a greater population, regardless of income."
That means conventional food offerings. Blake-Beach says that, whenever possible, Tidal Creek would source from local vendors.
His best guess is that these changes could happen within the next year and a half.