Maywood residents check out the inside of the former Maywood Market during a Aug. 24 open house. Living Fresh Market is looking to convert the Fifth Avenue space into the village’s first full-service grocery in more than a decade. (Kevin Beese/Chronicle Media)
Maywood officials are looking to hammer out a deal that would bring a full-service grocery to town.
The Near West suburb has been without a full-service supermarket since Aldi left the community in 2016.
Living Fresh Market, which already operates in Forest Park, is looking to add a second store in Maywood. It is planning to revamp the former Maywood Market at 615 S. Fifth Ave.
“The facility has been closed for more than a decade,” Maywood Mayor Nathaniel Booker said at a Aug. 24 public hearing about the redevelopment effort.
Drawings of how the market will look when finished were positioned throughout the store during a brief open house prior to the public hearing.
The hearing was under a tent just feet away from the shuttered grocery.
Maywood Market has been closed since 2012 after less than a year in operation.
Living Fresh Market, backed by Living Word Christian Center and well-known pastor Bill Winston, has been working with Maywood officials to get $2.5 million in funding for the reopening effort.
The village would own the property and Living Fresh would be a tenant in a 10-year lease agreement.
Winston’s daughter, Melody, oversees the grocery store operations and said Living Fresh is excited to be part of the Maywood community.
“We want to make sure we are part of the change that is happening – the good change – in communities, especially when they’re food deserts,” she said.
Melody Winston said it has been a long road to get the project to this point.
“We’ve been at this for years, fighting – for the space, for the funding – and we’re not done,” she said.
She hopes to be able to help build entrepreneurs from the Maywood community who would eventually put product on the Living Fresh shelves.
Winston said she wants Maywood residents to tell her what is important to them at their neighborhood grocery store.
“When we can open these doors and let you in and you see what’s happening in here, you’ll have a say in what’s happening here,” Winston said to residents at the public hearing. “This is about ownership, not just for Living Fresh, but for you too.”
“We are excited to come here. We really are,” she added.
Anthony Smith of Main Street Retail Solutions, which provides grocery stores with everything from marketing plans to lighting designs, said establishing a full-service supermarket is key for Maywood.
“A strong grocery store is the backbone of any community,” Smith said.
He said the Maywood Living Fresh store will not be a carbon copy of what was in the former supermarket on the Fifth Avenue site.
“It will have a new look, a new feel than what was there previously with the Maywood Market,” Smith said.
While in favor of bringing a market to town, Maywood Village Trustee Isiah Brandon questioned if Mayor Booker has made decisions on the project without board approval.
He noted the redevelopment agreement says that “it has been determined that it is in the best interest of the village to lease the (Fifth Avenue) property.”
“When was this decision done?” Brandon asked. “This is the first I am hearing of this. I have not missed any meetings.”
He said he is leery of any redevelopment agreement after the Maywood Market failed and “left taxpayers of the village of Maywood on the hook for millions of dollars.”
“It is incumbent upon me and anyone elected to be able to ensure that we’re doing our due diligence when it relates to any property in the village of Maywood,” Brandon said.
The trustee said the last thing he had heard was that Living Fresh was going to purchase the Fifth Avenue property.
“There really hasn’t been any board involvement or very limited board involvement and communication or input regarding this deal,” Brandon said.
“We have all of this substantial negotiation taking place and it has not taken place in the Council Chambers, which is very concerning to me as an elected official just knowing where we have been in the past as it relates to this property,” the trustee added.
Booker noted that the redevelopment agreement presented to trustees is only a draft and that there will be time for changes in subsequent meetings.
He challenged Brandon’s assessment of communication on the issue, saying officials talked about the issue at a recent board retreat and noted the village would likely lease the property to Living Fresh. Booker added the village needs to be involved in the project oversight to ensure the $2.5 million state grant for the project is secured.
