Chicago residents will eat healthy, thanks to a shipping container mall
For your typical resident of Chicago’s Bronzeville District, the hunt for fresh produce in their neighborhood can be frustrating, and ultimately fruitless. Save for the few bodegas offering a slim assortment of unappetizing shrink-wrapped fruits and vegetables, a sustainable and affordable source for fresh produce is hard to come by in this part of town — until now.
It’s called Boxville — a DIY-style retail plaza made out of refurbished shipping containers resembling “four giant metal Lego pieces.” Located just outside the CTA Green Line stop, Boxville aims to do away with the bad habits people pick up when fresh food is unavailable.
Boxville is the brain child of Bernard Loyd, founder and president of the community development group, Urban Juncture, and is a way to give residents access to the types of stores they never thought they’d have the chance to shop at.
Among the objectively-hip spots popping up in Boxville (like a bike repair shop called Bike Box) is Produce Box — Bronzeville’s answer to the farm stand. Produce Box offers fresh produce, fruit, and Italian ice at an affordable price, all by way of Chicago’s not-for-profit store Green City Market. While it only occupies 20 feet of the street-facing shipping container, Produce Box can potentially change the way Bronzeville residents eat.
“It’ll be more of a community experience, not as cut-and-dried as a produce stand,” said Melissa Flynn, executive director of Green City Market, in an interview with Chicago Mag. Flynn and Loyd met through a mutual friend, and decided to embark upon Produce Box after discussing an alternative way to bring fresh fruit and vegetables to Bronzeville residents without going the route of a typical brick-and-mortar.
"Produce Box will impact the community by providing a space for neighborhood residents to gather around food," said Green City Market's operations manager, Kathleen Williams.
"Parts of the Bronzeville community have not had access to produce in two generations and Green City Market will work to change this by bringing produce on a weekly basis in addition to food demos."
Customers will be able to order a week’s worth of produce for only $20, a drastic departure from vacuum packed apples and cucumbers adorning the aisles of a tiny bodega.
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Topics Social Good
