Building a co-op like ours that plans for an exceptional amount of local food means getting to know our farmers!

Hello, cooperators!

In my role as your General Manager, I am working to help build the community vision for a grocery store that delivers amazing products in a manner that elevates human dignity across our supply chain. While we are very committed to local agriculture and small businesses, Chicago Market will also be networked with a global food system. Crops such as coffee, tea, bananas, avocados, spices, vanilla, cacao, and more will be featured in our business (and are clearly important to many of our Owners!). When we engage supply chains further afield, our Purchasing Values demand that, beyond the high-quality standards we prize, we are supporting supply from environmentally and socially responsible sources.

(Hint: Dan's the one rocking the stylish hat!)

Have you stopped by the Uptown Farmers Market this season and picked up a tote bag at the Chicago Market table? If you have, you can thank one of our sponsors - Swedish Hospital! We've been working with Amanda Kritt, their Food Connections Coordinator, to find out a little bit more about a couple programs through Swedish Hospital and how they contribute to Uptown and Chicago.

Chicago Market is excited to announce that we'll be producing the Uptown Farmers Market again this year!

first market day: May 4

every Wednesday 2:30 - 7:00pm
in our parking lot at Wilson & Broadway
uptownfarmersmarket.org

We're excited to be sharing our draft renderings, and one thing that isn't easy to depict in them is Chicago Market's commitment to being, as one Owner wrote, "a place where the whole community can go to access affordable products (and yes, local, sustainable ones - all the goals at once!)."

So we wanted to share some things we have in place already to make food affordable in our store:

We here at Chicago Market are partnering up with other area food co-ops to host a virtual screening of the documentary film The Co-op Wars!

As I got out of my car near 63rd and S. Central Ave, a giant plane flew overhead, and it startled me a little bit. I live on the north side of Chicago, and the O’Hare planes look tiny as they follow their landing pathways. But here in the Clearing neighborhood, I am just a block from Midway Airport, and airplanes sure do take up a lot of sky from this vantage point.

While the Uptown Farmers Market has been connecting amazing local farmers and producers with customers every Wednesday since May, we here at the Chicago Market Events Team were proud to add an artistic and literary vibe to our space this month!

As we continue working toward opening the full-service grocery store that will ultimately fill the building, we are happy to join with community partners and host events like Aug. 8th's Uptown Art Fair and Aug. 15th's Pop-Up Book Sale.

Chicago Market would like you to meet Kim Jean (affectionately known as Miss Kim), founder and owner of Mossum (moss + yum), maker of edible algae sea moss. Sea moss is an amazing 100% natural, nutrient dense, sustainable food that is vegan, low calorie and full of good stuff! Kim Jean will be present at our next SHOP event on June 20th to tell you more – but until then, here’s a little bit about Kim and Mossum.

What do Meliora Cleaning Products and Chicago Market have in common? They both care a lot about what goes into the products we use in our day-to-day lives. Meliora's focus is on products that WORK and get the job done, and they are picky about the ingredients they choose to do the work.