Imagine sitting in a remote region of the Sahara desert. The sun is scorching hot, the dry air is stifling, and there are no trees, no water, and no living creatures as far as the eye can see. What would you wish you had? 

One night in 2020, Aaron Johnson, founder and owner of Oasis Fresh Market, was up late working on a marketing plan for his new grocery store when he imagined himself in this very scenario. Then, it hit him. “In my mind, I [thought of an] oasis,” he recalled. “I remember opening my laptop and Googling the definition … it means refuge, safe place, and shelter.” 

For years, Aaron had lived in a different kind of desert, one common to many urban and rural areas across the U.S.: a food desert. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, an urban area becomes a food desert when residents live further than a mile from a full-service grocery store; in rural areas, the range stretches to 10 miles. North Tulsa, Oklahoma had been a food desert for fourteen years. It was also, Aaron adds, a food swamp, inundated with dollar stores and fast food restaurants. Aaron knew that there was a need in his community – not only for fresh and nutritious food, but for a business that valued people over profits. 

With the support and aid of his family and community, Aaron officially opened Oasis Fresh Market in May of 2021. In the years since, it’s grown into a thriving independent business and nonprofit organization. Aaron thinks that Oasis can be a blueprint for other cities, mayors, and governors looking to support truly community-centric businesses. Oasis – and its associated nonprofit organization, The Oasis Projects – combines a grocery store with wraparound services, including employment, public health, and education. Together, they nurture a safe place and a refuge that only small, independent, locally-owned businesses are nimble enough to foster. 

In the second half of this episode, Stacy Mitchell, Co-Director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, expands on the policy decisions that have wiped out independent grocery stores and led to an increasingly consolidated grocery sector. She also points to smart policy decisions that some communities have implemented to preserve independent grocery stores. Pennsylvania, for example, created the Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative, which allocated capital for grants and loans for people interested in starting and expanding grocery stores in low-income and underserved areas. This program ultimately financed nearly 100 grocery stores in urban and rural areas. But policymakers and elected officials must create the pathway to make opportunities like this available to all communities, including by enforcing antitrust laws and returning power to the people. 

For additional resources see: https://ilsr.org/building-local-power/