Photo: Carl Stevens (WBZ)
SALEM, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — It may not have the fanciest name, but "The Market" is appreciated by Salem residents just the same.
The Salem Pantry opened the brick-and-mortar building at 47 Leavitt St. in The Point neighborhood in April. It is the organization's first fully functional permanent store after years of distributing food at pop-up locations around the city.
Open Tuesday through Saturday, The Market provides free groceries for families struggling to pay the rising cost of food.
"We really wanted to set something up that served the Point community as a whole," Director of Programs & Partnerships Mike Lilley told WBZ NewsRadio Friday. "Right here in our own little town, you know, of 44,000, we’re serving 1,300 families a week. That’s a huge amount of people being served in our community."
The Market has the look and feel of a grocery store, with clean aisles of fresh produce, canned good, refrigerated products. Lilley told WBZ that the plan is to make the shopping experience as normal as possible.
"We absolutely have music playing all the time," Lilley said. "We’re working on getting murals on all the walls, so that it is a warm, inviting space."
WBZ's Carl Stevens (@CarlWBZ) reports.
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