Pay-What-You-Can Grocer To Close in Carondelet

For two years, MARSH Grocery and Diner sold fresh, locally-grown food in south city

Jul 13, 2023 at 9:49 am

BENJAMIN SIMON

(Left to right) Ranata Frank, Beth Neff, Chrissy Kirchhoefer and Grace Smith stand in front of MARSH grocery store in the Carondelet neighborhood.

After two years of selling fresh, locally-grown food in south city, MARSH Grocery and Diner has announced it will be closing at the end of next week, St. Louis Public Radio has reported.

MARSH opened in the summer of 2021 on South Broadway, charging customers on a sliding scale based on their ability to pay.

“Our model is not-for-profit. We're not pulling any profit for our own capitalization, and we're paying people high wages,” one of the cooperative's founding members Beth Neff told the Riverfront Times last year. "We’re trying to break molds that are not generative to a community.”

The store has its roots in the quarantine days of the pandemic. Throughout 2020, Neff gave out free food to the neighborhood every week. Mayor Tishaura Jones was among the store's first shoppers after opened in August 2021.

As of last October, the store had given away almost $13,000 worth of food. Staffers acknowledged their business model was "precarious," but said it was necessary to meet the needs of the community they served. When a grant from America’s Healthy Food Financing Initiative ran out, they had to cut their staff from 11 to four.

Mixed Results One Year in for Carondelet Co-Op Grocer: MARSH opened in summer 2021 aiming to provide fresh groceries on a sliding pay scale

Speaking with St. Louis Public Radio today, Neff said the closure was heartbreaking. “There's been a huge investment in learning and creating here," she said.

Though she also told the station: “I do feel good about the foundation that we built. We have a community that is excited about what we can do to address issues that are important to us.”

The grocery store's last day of business is next Saturday, July 22.