LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The Smoketown neighborhood in Louisville now has new access to fresh, local food.

Locals Food Hub and Pizza Pub, at 822 East Broadway, is a spot for people to grab a bite to eat and have access to a small grocery. 

"I was impressed with the variety of the meat selection and there was more herbs available than I was expecting," said Philip Flarsheim, a Louisvillian visiting the store Monday.

Jevonie Jones not only lives in the Smoketown neighborhood but is also an employee at Locals Food Hub and Pizza Pub. 

Food stocked at Local Food Hub.jpg

Locals Food Hub and Pizza Pub at 822 East Broadway in Louisville, Ky. on Oct. 21, 2024.

"People have a lot more access to food, different varieties of food, fresh food, healthier foods," Jones said.

She said this food hub and pizza pub concept is filling a need in the area.

"We don't necessarily have access up this way -- this part of the city -- since they took the Kroger grocery store off Second Street. But we've been kind of needing a grocery store for the last five years," she said.

Co-owner Birch Bragg started the business in Frankfort in 2021. He said the idea for the business model came about in a post-COVID world.

"When globalized supply chains all but fell apart," Bragg said. "It was one of the first times a lot of people in the United States experienced empty grocery store shelves."

Bragg wanted to support local, Kentucky farmers and increase access to their foods.

"We can impact food access initiatives here in Smoketown in a really meaningful way," Bragg said. 

The expansion from Frankfort to Smoketown comes in large part from a federal grant through the USDA.

"The sole purpose of the funds from that grant is to help open a grocery store or facilitate food access in a food desert," Bragg said. "Put that food right in the middle of neighborhoods that need it the most."

Bragg said the Frankfort location is already SNAP eligible. He's hopeful the Smoketown location will be SNAP eligible in about two weeks, helping make the food options not only fresh, but also affordable.

"We're already qualified for Kentucky Double Dollars, meaning that as soon as we're SNAP eligible, someone could come in with their SNAP, spend $20 on the SNAP card and get $20 additional grocery buying power," Bragg said. "Meaning that you can spend $20, walk out with $40. That cuts the price in half."

Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg's Office said it's confident these efforts will help solve food access challenges and hopes other grocery store operators make fresh produce more accessible in all neighborhoods across the city.

"What I'm really excited about is that they've got a bunch of stuff that's not particularly stocked at Kroger," Flarsheim said.

Locals Food Hub and Pizza Pub is open daily. 

This isn't the first time there's been a push for a grocery store in the Smoketown neighborhood. 

In 2022, Louisville Association for Community Economics Inc. (LACE) and its partner, Louisville Community Grocery, announced its plans to once again try and build a store in Smoketown. The co-op grocery store was going to be located at Finzer and South Jackson streets on a currently empty lot donated by the Hillerich family of Louisville Slugger.

But in September, LACE board member Cassia Herron shared the partnership between LACE and Louisville Community Grocery ended, in turn killing the current plans.

"Over the past year, leaders with the Louisville Community Grocery have been busy getting access to our assets and reorganizing our board," Herron said in a statement. "Sadly, no new grocery stores have opened in our target neighborhoods since we started so our efforts to continue remain."

The project was also backed by a $3.5 million bond from Metro Government. In 2020, Metro Government set the money aside to award to a grocery store project in Louisville's high-needs area. LACE was awarded the bid when the city's first request for proposals (RFP) were put out in 2021. But, the city ended talks in the beginning of 2022. 

It re-awarded the money later in 2022. Officials previously said Smoketown is the right location for the grocery because it's a food desert, meaning most residents live more than a mile from the nearest supermarket.

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