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Shipping-Container Markets Along MetroLink Await Bi-State Decision

St. Louis Public Radio | By Evie Hemphill,
Sarah Fenske
Published February 5, 2020 at 2:29 PM CST
Link Market aims to provide fresh food options at public transit stops. But implementation has proved complicated.
Courtesy of Link Market
Link Market aims to provide fresh food options at public transit stops. But implementation has proved complicated.
Link Market aims to provide fresh food options at public transit stops. But implementation has proved complicated.
Credit Courtesy of Link Market
Link Market aims to provide fresh food options at public transit stops. But implementation has proved complicated.

In January, St. Louis’ regional transit agency considered taking on operation of the embattled Loop Trolley — and ultimately declined to do so. At this month’s meeting of the Bi-State Development board, a totally different project’s future will come before the agency: the two shipping-container-sized grocery stores located along MetroLink in north St. Louis County.

The stores are operated by a nonprofit subcontractor, Link Market, which formed about two years ago. They were funded by a grant Bi-State was awarded from the Missouri Foundation for Health and meant to be a pilot project addressing the region’s food deserts. But this past summer, as reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Tony Messenger, Link Market founder Dr. Jeremy Goss learned Bi-State had concerns about their financial viability.

After a meeting of various parties in St. Louis County Executive Sam Page’s office, the shipping-container markets got an extension from Bi-State. And as the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Andrew Nguyen explained on Wednesday’s St. Louis on the Air, Bi-State’s board should vote Feb. 21 on a proposal to donate the shipping containers to the Link Market.

Dr. Jeremy Goss, left, and Andrew Nguyen of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Credit Photo Courtesy of Link Market (Goss) and Evie Hemphill | St. Louis Public Radio
Dr. Jeremy Goss, left, and Andrew Nguyen of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

That donation would allow Link Market to make some changes, Dr. Goss explained — including relocating the underserved market in Wellston, which is basically closed. He hopes to relocate the shipping container to the Grand MetroLink station.

“I think the vote that happens this month isn’t necessarily a severing of the partnership, whether they decide to give the markets to us or not,” Dr. Goss said. “Obviously, it’s our hope that they’ll make the decision to give them to us. It gives us control of the destiny of those markets, and it will allow us to relocate the Wellston market, which currently is underperforming, and put it into a community at one of their train stations where it could be of better service to more folks.” 

The segment also included comments from Bi-State’s vice president for economic development, John Langa, and from area residents, who talked with production intern Joshua Phelps.

“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is hosted by Sarah Fenske and produced by Alex Heuer, Emily Woodbury, Evie Hemphill and Lara Hamdan. The engineer is Aaron Doerr, and production assistance is provided by Charlie McDonald.

 

Send questions and comments about this story to feedback@stlpublicradio.org.

Copyright 2021 St. Louis Public Radio. To see more, visit St. Louis Public Radio.

Missouri News
Evie Hemphill
Evie Hemphill joined the St. Louis on the Air team in February 2018. After earning a bachelor’s degree in English literature in 2005, she started her career as a reporter for the Westminster Window in Colorado. Several years later she went on to pursue graduate work in creative writing at the University of Wyoming and moved to St. Louis upon earning an MFA in the spring of 2010. She worked as writer and editor for Washington University Libraries until 2014 and then spent several more years in public relations for the University of Missouri–St. Louis before making the shift to St. Louis Public Radio.
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Sarah Fenske
Sarah Fenske joined St. Louis Public Radio as host of St. Louis on the Air in July 2019. Before that, she spent twenty years in newspapers, working as a reporter, columnist and editor in Cleveland, Houston, Phoenix, Los Angeles and St. Louis. She won the Livingston Award for Young Journalists for her work in Phoenix exposing corruption at the local housing authority. She also won numerous awards for column writing, including multiple first place wins from the Arizona Press Club, the Association of Women in Journalism (the Clarion Awards) and the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. From 2015 to July 2019, Sarah was editor in chief of St. Louis' alt-weekly, the Riverfront Times. She and her husband, John, are raising their two young daughters and ill-behaved border terrier in Lafayette Square.
See stories by Sarah Fenske