Bringing in the green
Local couple hopes to make a healthy profit with fresh produce store on Cass Avenue
WOONSOCKET – When Nicole Lussier and fiancé Michael Roy surveyed the topography of grocery shopping in the area, it didn’t take long for them to conclude that fresh produce is often too far away and too pricey for many city-sized wallets.
In the Sahara of the food merchandising landscape, the young couple saw a niche – and filled it with East Side Produce, a new fruit and vegetable store located at 562 Cass Ave.
“We had looked around at the supermarkets in the area...we realized if we just did it ourselves we’d be able to pretty much bring affordable fruits and vegetables to everyone in the city,” said Lussier. “We’re actually looking into doing home delivery, too.”
Some may think it’s an exaggeration to liken the city to a desert when it comes to food shopping, but not the
United States Department of Agriculture. In fact, after a nationwide survey of the availability of fresh produce several years ago, the USDA labeled scores of communities around the country “food deserts” – places where access to fresh produce and other nutritious options is significantly restricted, usually due to a dearth of vendors, high poverty and poor access to transportation.
Woonsocket was among several communities in the state on the USDA’s so-called food desert list, and that was in 2009 – four years before Shaw’s on Diamond Hill Road shut down, leaving only one full-service grocery store – PriceRite – within the city limits.
Open for a little more than a week, East Side Produce is a little oasis of fresh in the dunes.
From broccoli and kale to watermelons and kiwi, East Side Produce has a surprisingly wide range of fruits and vegetables for a momand-pop store. They also have some traditional “convenience store” items, like milk and soda.
But Roy practically bristles at the suggestion that East Side Produce is, or could be, a common convenience store.
To him, that conjures up troubling images of tobacco and lottery tickets. Those are things East Side Produce will never carry – not just because doing so would mean more red tape, taxes and licensing, but because they’re uplifting for neither body nor mind.
“I don’t want any of that, especially with the high school right across the street,” says Roy.
A self-described foodie who had a background in retail, Lussier says small stores like East Side Produce can go a long way toward making it easier for people of modest means and poor access to transportation to put healthy food on the table.
“Everyone needs to eat healthier,” she says. “Sometimes it seems like it’s cheaper to buy fast food than it is to buy healthier food.”
Though he comes to the startup from a job in the construction trades, Roy actually worked for several years in what was once a well- known neighborhood produce store that belonged to his cousin, John Fernandes. The store was known as Gardella’s for many years, but Fernandes operated it for over a decade.
Before his cousin decided to close up the store around 2011, said Roy, he tried to buy it from him, but things didn’t work out.
After celebrating a week as his own boss on Monday, Roy says he’s just realizing what a challenge it is to run a produce market. Just figuring out what to charge for an eggplant or a zucchini or a bunch of bananas can be a real brain-teaser
“Just pricing alone is a full-time job,” says Roy.
That’s because the prices on the same items can change from day to day at the wholesale market in Providence, presumably based on availability and demand, says Roy.
His key connection for supplies is Al-Jac’s, a major supplier of restaurants, markets and others in need of volume deliveries of fruits and vegetables for many years, not far from Federal Hill.
While Roy is sure about a few things he doesn’t want to sell, he says East Side Produce is still a work in progress and he has an open mind. He and Lussier are very interested in promoting locally-grown produce, for example. They’e still exploring possible relationships with farmers and vendors of other products, including baked goods, honey, or even cheese. They’re willing to talk to anyone looking for a venue to promote their products, even backyard gardeners and homebased cooks who might have something tasty to sell.
“There was a woman who came in here last week who told me she has a garden and she grows all this rhubarb that she’s doesn’t know what to do with,” says Lussier. “She asked me if she could bring it down. I said, ‘sure.’”
“We’re still working out the kinks, still negotiating with local vendors,” adds Roy.
In Roy’s mind, there’s still a little wiggle room for what East Side Produce could become, but fundamentally the concept he envisions is that of a small neighborhood market, built around fresh fruit and vegetables that are usually only available at a large supermarket.
So far, local reception to the store has been positive, says Roy. Customers have been quite pleased to find fresh produce in a local store that’s conveniently within walking distance in the thickly settled Elm Street and Cass Avenue area. About the only gripe so far came from someone who complained the store didn’t have a wheelchair ramp, but he’s working on fixing that problem.
He said Councilman Richard Fagnant was the only city official to drop in so far to welcome them to the business community and offer a helping hand. Roy says Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt – an advocate for more food-shopping choices in the city – didn’t stop in, but Roy credits her with straightening out some of his problems with red tape at City Hall.
“I was having a heck of a time getting my certificate of occupancy,” he says. “I called her one time and 45 minutes later I had my CO. She definitely helped out there.”