Folks who live in the Northwest region of Milwaukee now have access to healthier food options thanks to Sherman Park Grocery Store.
With the help of their community, Maurice “Moe” Wince and his wife, Yashica Spears, are making a significant difference in their community whilst making history, too, Black Business reported. When they opened their food mart nearly two years ago, they became one of the few full-service Black-owned grocery stores in the area — quickly becoming a popular destination for residents in and surrounding the district.
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Wince was born and raised in Milwaukee, so his hometown connection partially powered the passion behind his and his spouse’s idea to bring a market to the town. The other motivation was witnessing so many shopping at gas stations, which typically offer unhealthy snacks like potato chips, twinkies, donuts and soda. The initiative to address the problem had been in the works since after the 2016 civil unrest in the neighborhood.
“I’ve lived my whole life in this city. Now we have a unique opportunity to change the narrative of the environment here by providing food access and education,” Wince told Milwaukee NNS.
With the entrepreneur’s background knowledge of food access through Feeding America, he got the ball rolling on developing a grocery store. He and Spears rallied support from community leaders and organizations like Embassy Center MKE, “an apostolic, regional, governing church,” to bring the idea to life. Due to their collaborative efforts, Sherman Park Grocery Store hosted its grand opening in July 2022.
In the store’s first 30 days of operation, they served nearly 4,000 Milwaukeeans. The retail food store currently has eight employees, and it’s working with Employ Milwaukee, the city’s workforce development board, to aid in providing jobs to residents. Although the business has been thriving, there is still an uphill battle as food pantry programs are declining following the pandemic per Black Business.
“The food assistance programs are shrinking, but the need hasn’t gone anywhere,” Maurice said.
Sherman Park Grocery Store utilizes Feed My Sheep Global Services, a charity organization helping people by offering gift card purchases for necessary food products, to ensure the community will continue having access to better food and educational resources. In addition, they have partnered with UpStart Kitchen, a neighboring culinary incubator that supports local chefs by putting their food on the stores’ shelves.
If you’re in Milwaukee and want to learn more about or support the work Wince and Spears are doing, the store is located at 4315 West Fond du Lac Avenue, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53216.
