A local grocer was recently recognized as a finalist for a national award. WMRA's Randi B. Hagi reports.
Jon Henry General Store offers fresh produce and slabs of bacon, novelty socks and staple goods out of a historic New Market building that's more than 200 years old. The founder, Jon Henry, was recently named one of three finalists for the Rural Grocer of the Year Award. It's given out by the Rural Grocery Initiative, a national organization that supports locally-owned grocery stores outside of urban areas.
JON HENRY: One thing that was kind of unique about our business model is that we didn't want to have to sell alcohol or tobacco products to be sustainable. So we wanted to be a very family-focused, positive, health foods store in a rural community.
Henry said his store's strategic partnerships also helped it to stand out. Those include the Fresh Match incentives program, which allows EBT customers to get fresh produce for half price, and the Virginia Clean Cities grant that funded an electric vehicle charging station at the shop. And, in other good news, Henry said the current heat wave should bring in a bounty of local heirloom tomatoes.
