With an announcement this morning, a local company is answering two questions Wilmington residents have been asking in recent years: “When is downtown getting a grocery store?” and “When is Farmin’ (formerly Carolina Farmin’) opening a new retail location?”

The reply to both questions is summer 2016 - that’s the planned opening time for Farmin’ on Front, a store that will offer fresh local seafood, meats, produce, bakery items and other groceries in about 6,000 square feet of space at 143 N. Front St.

“We’ve heard a lot from community leaders in the Wilmington area saying that that they need a downtown grocery urban market. On top of that, we’ve had a lot of local residents in the downtown area say we need something down here local foods-wise where we can do our shopping,” said Randall Heath, Farmin’ sales and marketing director. “Really those facts came into play when we made the decision of where we were going to go.”

In September 2013, Carolina Farmin’ closed its 2-year-old store at 2101 Market St. because the property didn't fit the company's vision for the future, Heath said. Farmin' also dropped the “Carolina” from its name and leased space at 4102 Emerson St. for its Creative Campus, a 25,000-square-foot facility where regionally grown produce, meats and dairy products are packaged, prepared and distributed to wholesale clients, including many downtown restaurants. 

But even after the Market Street store closed, the company continued to work on plans to open a different retail location again in behind-the-scenes efforts that culminated in the signing of a 5-year lease for the Front Street location, company officials said.   

“We are back,” said Farmin’ president Ben Long in a news release Tuesday. “We’ve traveled many miles studying how similar urban markets accomplish smaller-footprint, big-impact models to bring a special shopping experience to downtown Wilmington, one that rivals comparative markets of Charleston and Savannah.”

Farmin’ on Front’s space was formerly occupied by vintage resale business A Second Time Around, which closed its doors Jan. 30 with plans to reopen at 3518 Wrightsville Ave. in April. 

The Front Street space Farmin' will occupy requires some renovations before the store can open. Heath said Farmin’ wants to incorporate some of the architectural features of the building - including exposed brick currently behind walls, steel and  wood beams -  in the new store’s design and raise the ceiling, in addition to other changes.

Long said in the release, “This is going to be an intricate project; we’ve assembled a great team to bring the vision to fruition. We are excited to work with Clark Hipp of Hipp Architecture & Development, Jennifer Kraner of Big Sky [Interior] Designs, Carlton Fisher of Coastal Realty, Mayor [Bill] Saffo and all of his team and Ed Wolverton of WDI [Wilmington Downtown Inc.]. We are on track to submit our market’s designs soon and will be ‘breaking ground’ in the upcoming weeks.”

Fisher Holdings LLC owns the building at 143 N. Front St., located across from the downtown post office and near the corner of Front and Chestnut streets.

Heath said Farmin' currently has 35 employees, a number that could increase by 15 to 20 as a result of the store opening.

Jonny Alexander, director of special projects and retail development, said the store will offer "an oasis" in what has been called downtown's "food desert," a term used to describe an area where affordable and nutritious food is hard to find. Like a traditional grocery store, the Farmin' on Front urban food market will include features like a bakery section, seafood department and deli.

"You can stop here and get everything you need for a meal," Alexander said. 

Alexander said the company also hopes to include interactive pieces at Farmin' on Front, such as a demonstration kitchen showcasing local chefs and cooking classes.

In addition to Farmin' on Front and the company's wholesale division, Farmin' Exchange, Capital Creamery (gelato and other treats) and Prospect Farms in Supply also fall under the Farmin' Brands umbrella.

Company officials call 143 N. Front St. the "first" retail location planned as they actively look for other, similar opportunities in the region.

"We'll continue to keep the community updated on those plans as well, but right now our focus is making sure we hit the ground running with this one," Heath said of the Front Street store.


The Farmin' team, shown at the company's Creative Campus at 4102 Emerson St., includes president Ben Long (foreground, center and Waitus Parker (from left, behind Long), special projects; Sharm Brantley, accounting; Jonny Alexander, director of special projects and retail development; Virginia Pollock, controller; Randall Heath, director of sales and marketing; Laura Czachorowski, workforce director; Stephen Wine, culinary innovations; and Ethan Mairs, seafood director. (Photo courtesy of Farmin')

Grocery store development in the Cape Fear region has been on the upswing in recent months, with one of the most recent announcements centered on a potential Aldi, a discount grocery store chain that, accoridng to site plans, is proposing to build a 19,000-square-foot location in Leland.

In addition to new players joining the line-up, the grocery market has been changing in other ways, including the revamping of existing stores like Lowes Foods and Food Lion in recent years. Meanwhile, Tidal Creek, a food co-op with a store at 5329 Oleander Drive, has announced its intentions to find a new location.

Incorporated in 1982, Tidal Creek aims to offer what it has billed as "natural" and "healthful" products to the area's consumers. The store's relocation efforts, specifically focused on finding a space in the downtown area, continue, said Shaylah Paul, Tidal Creek Co-op's marketing coordinator.

"We are looking at a couple of sites very closely, and I think that we were steering away from downtown proper just to make sure that we have enough space [at least 8,000 square feet]," Paul said Tuesday. "We want to have ample parking, so like that Front Street location was never really on the docket for us. But we are still looking in the downtown area."

Paul said the co-op's board of directors is working on a presentation that would be made to city of Wilmington officials to "explain what our intentions are and what want to accomplish in hopes of getting their support."