Eastsiders are rooting for Indy Fresh Market, but demand transparency
INDIANAPOLIS (MIRROR INDY) — Customers of Indy Fresh Market want the eastside grocery store to succeed. Without it, the area near 38th Street and Arlington Avenue would again become a food desert.
But some customers say they were disappointed to learn from a Mirror Indy article that the store is no longer on the path to becoming owned by two Black entrepreneurs as was announced just a year ago.
Now, those who have stuck with the store through concerns about food quality and higher prices are wanting to make sure two of the partners behind the store — Bloomington-based Cook Medical and Indianapolis-based Goodwill of Central and Southern Indiana — will be more transparent.
“When you read through the comments on social media, it’s still a lot of people who are upset with the gentlemen,” said Deanna Sheard, referring to the two entrepreneurs. “Nobody’s really calling out the other players and asking, hey, well, what does Goodwill or what does Cook Medical have to say about this?”
Sheard said she believes the two former managers — Michael McFarland and Marckus Williams — are taking the fall for people’s negative experiences even though they were removed from management in February. Neither could be reached by Mirror Indy for comment.
When contacted by Mirror Indy for this article, officials with Goodwill, which has taken over operations, and Cook Medical issued a joint statement.
“The first priority was figuring out how to stabilize the store to ensure the community didn’t show up one day to find a ‘permanently closed’ sign on the door without any prior notice,” the statement read in part.
The organizations said they shared that Indy Fresh Market was under new management in a June newsletter associated with 38th and Sheridan, which is the name of the development area where the grocery store is located.
The statement also said Cook Medical President Pete Yonkman met with neighborhood associations in the area in August to explain changes and request the support of neighborhood leaders.
That’s when James Campbell, president of the Sheridan Heights Neighborhood Association, said he learned about the management changes. He believes Cook and Goodwill should have gone to neighborhood leaders sooner.
“We could have talked to them, we could have addressed the rumors and the conversations that were being said,” Campbell said. “In the absence of facts, people make up their own realities and we could have stopped that had they brought it to us earlier.”
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Sheard agreed the community could benefit from better communication from those organizations.
“I definitely would like to hear more from Cook and Goodwill on what their plan is moving forward,” she said. “And an apology to the community and to those gentlemen wouldn’t hurt as well.”
In their statement, Cook and Goodwill said they will continue to listen to customer feedback. The organizations also pointed to changes that have been implemented after previous feedback such as creating a health-and-beauty section and stocking certain cuts of meat.
The statement also said the store carries products from local vendors. And the 38th and Sheridan project employs many people who live in the area.
“We will continue to work our hardest to give the grocery store the support it needs to become a place that the community can call its own and hope our neighbors will join us in making this vision a reality,” the joint statement said.
Neighborhood organizations are also working to regain the community’s trust of Indy Fresh Market, Campbell said. But he knows getting people to support the store could take time. He’s committed to helping residents find answers to questions they might have about the store and dispelling any rumors.
Campbell has lived in the area for a long time and doesn’t want the area to lose another grocery store.
“It cannot fail,” Campbell said. “I just can’t imagine having that big building there empty. It has to succeed.”
Mirror Indy reporter Darian Benson covers east Indianapolis. Contact her at 317-397-7262 or darian.benson@mirrorindy.org. Follow her on X @HelloImDarian.