Not just a store

Company wants eastside store to be community gathering spot

Homeland wants its new eastside store to be a community gathering spot.

A new Homeland grocery at NE 36 and Lincoln Boulevard is set to open on Wednesday in fulfillment of a longtime effort to bring fresh food options to Oklahoma City’s historically neglected eastside.

Under CEO Marc Jones, Homeland has spent the past several years closing older stores and renovating others including its grocery at NW 18 and Classen Boulevard. The eastside ZIP code of 73111 is classified as a “food desert” by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and lost an aging smaller grocery, a Buy For Less at NE 23 and Martin Luther King Avenue, three years ago.

“For the longest time, as long as I’ve been here, as long as people I talk to can remember, there hasn’t been a full-service grocery option in northeast Oklahoma City,” Jones said. “People have had to travel outside the community. At Homeland we should understand that better than anybody because our headquarters is 200 feet away. For us, it was about lunch choices. For residents, it’s about being able to shop for a bell pepper or fresh milk.”

The new store introduces an entirely new look for the chain. The 30,000square-foot store includes indoor seating for 38 near the grab-and-go prepared foods and an outdoor patio that seats 19. Legendary Leo’s Barbeque will open a Lil’ Leo’s Barbeque at the grocery adjoining a coffee and wine bar to be operated by Not Your Average Joe, a nonprofit that employs the intellectually disabled.

Other amenities include a bakery, a butcher’s counter, deli, sushi station and pharmacy with a drive-thru.

Homeland, which historically did not have a presence on the east side other than its headquarters, first stepped in to provide grocery options when the Buy For Less closed.

The employee-owned company first teamed up with the nonprofit ReStore OKC to open a market at its urban farm at 2222 NE 27.

The two then teamed up to open the

PHOTOS BY CHRIS LANDSBERGER/THE OKLAHOMAN Homeland CEO Marc Jones says the store will employ 90 people, many who live in the area. Homeland, which historically did not have a presence on the east side other than its headquarters, first stepped in to provide grocery options when the Buy For Less closed.

Finishing touches are added and shelves are stocked Monday for Wednesday’s opening of a Homeland grocery store in Oklahoma City’s eastside neighborhood, which has been classified as a “food desert.”