Gleaners Planning To Open New 'Market-Style' Pantry In Metro Detroit

WARREN, MI — Gleaners Community Food Bank is planning to open a "retail-like" facility in metro Detroit to help families struggling for food.

The Detroit-based nonprofit said the new facility, Fresh! by Gleaners, will open on 8 Mile Road, just east of Ryan Road in Warren sometime in early 2025. Crews are expected to begin construction sometime this summer.

The new facility will feature indoor "market-style" shopping for fresh and nutritious foods, such as fresh produce, dairy and eggs for people in need. It will also offer pre-order curbside pickup and drive-thru mobile distributions.

Officials said the Warren location was chosen based on "an assessment of residential population density and food insecurity rates, will primarily serve the needs of the surrounding Warren and Detroit community."

Federal data shows roughly 30 percent of people living within a three-mile radius of the new site were living in poverty as of 2021. Moreover, officials said the need for food in Metro Detroit has increased by 30 percent within the last year, mainly due to the end of pandemic-era assistance programs.

Officials have been planning the new facility for five years, with planning and concept testing as well as gathering input from community members.

"Over the past several years, Gleaners has engaged in listening sessions with nearly a dozen local partner agencies to discuss where there are gaps in service and how we can incorporate their feedback into the model to help close those gaps," Vice President of Community Engagement for Gleaners Judith McNeeley said. "The feedback has been incredibly positive as a complement to the important work our partners are doing every day to nourish the community."

Gleaners serves five southeastern Michigan counties (Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Livingston and Monroe) and provides food to nearly 400 partner agencies, including schools, soup kitchens, food pantries, shelters, and others across the region, and supplements the efforts of those partners by offering direct-service, drive-up grocery distributions.