Help Save Community Foods Market

Brahm Ahmadi (Photo by Rachel Trachten)

The impact of the pandemic has been severe at Community Foods Market, the full-service grocery that opened in 2019 on San Pablo Avenue in West Oakland. In addition to providing fresh produce and other affordable foods, the store also served as a neighborhood hub with a café, seasonal gatherings, and community wellness events. But pandemic fears combined with rising food prices have led to reduced store traffic, reduced revenue, and cuts in staff. Market founder and CEO Brahm Ahmadi has put out an SOS to help the store regain its financial stability. He’s asking people to become boosters who make a commitment to shop at the store or online at least once a month and also get five other people to do the same. Info: here

Edible East Bay started reporting on this project in 2006 when Brahm Ahmadi’s nonprofit, People’s Grocery, was operating a mobile market in West Oakland. In our 2011 article on the Slow Money movement, Kristina Sepetys described what would become the Community Food Market as ground was about to be broken at the site.

Watch the store’s new video update about the SOS campaign.

This recent Berkeleyside article gives more of the recent history and describes the current struggle to keep the market open:

https://www.berkeleyside.com/2021/04/08/community-foods-market-west-oakland-pandemic-decline?fbclid=IwAR0GLPB6YnevCCffsSVzxSolRqbJAVLg8ELYA09iM2ZRyQlJOjS1zrN_lu4&mc_cid=de30a33df8&mc_eid=cba2fff5da