Field to Family will head NewBo City Market’s new in-house grocery store

CEDAR RAPIDS — NewBo City Market will partner with a Johnson County nonprofit to bring a new community grocery store to Cedar Rapids.

NewBo had previously announced plans to add a grocery store to its market as part of its impending $5.5 million expansion project. This week, market leaders tapped Iowa City-based Field to Family to oversee the retail store.

“The more we thought about our goals, there was really only one choice that led to that level of synergy around economic development impact and food insecurity impact” and that was Field to Family, said Sarah Blais, NewBo’s senior director of market operations.

Field to Family operates as a nonprofit food hub that sources local foods from more than 70 producers in and around Johnson County for distribution to area schools, food banks and other wholesale partners in eastern Iowa.

Executive Director Michelle Kenyon said the NewBo grocery store — dubbed The Market Basket — will mark a change of pace for Field to Family, which currently focuses more on delivery and distribution logistics.

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The organization is in the early planning stages for the store and intends to engage the existing network of Field to Family producers to identify how best to stock the store with nutritious, local products for year-round shopping.

The store also will include information about the individual producers, Kenyon said, as well as details around items’ nutritional information, production details and more.

“We want people to understand that local foods can be fresh and harvested just that week for you, but sometimes it’ll come from the root cellar or be grown with a season extension technique” like hydroponics or a greenhouse, Keynon said. “We have a lot of really cool ways to get local food to people year-round.”

The grocery store is part of the larger $5.5 million Next Level Local expansion project that will also bring additional shopkeeper space, an indoor performance stage and an upper mezzanine level to the Cedar Rapids business incubator.

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Russell Construction Company of Davenport will handle the construction work, and a groundbreaking celebration is set for September with a tentative construction timeline of eight months.

Blais said The Market Basket is expected to open by next summer with Field to Family acting as the primary operator. As part of the collaboration, participating producers will have access to mentoring and entrepreneurship opportunities through NewBo City Market.

“We’re always going to have that economic development perspective, and for us, that means supporting farmers and supporting the local food system economy through mentorship and business incubation,” Blais said. “We’re really excited to approach this work through that lens.”

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