ABOUT US

Southside Market is a community-owned, micro grocery and cafe increasing nutritious food access while prioritizing local sourcing, hiring, and collective ownership for Greater Chatham, communities on the South side of Chicago, and beyond. Our first fresh market (at 433 E 79th St, opening Summer of 2024) will offer everyday-affordable fresh produce and grocery basics, our cafe's rotating menu showcases local, BIPOC entrepreneurs and chefs.

The key differentiators in our efforts to combat food apartheid are size and flexibility; we are not another big-box grocery store. Our 1300-1700 sq. ft., lean-operating stores can uniquely meet the needs of South side residential communities. We also plan to offer produce delivery to key locations such as nearby senior centers and places of worship. Equally important, our model builds local wealth through collective ownership.

We are excited to share that we are launching our first store in Chatham. Since 2021, we've hosted over 21 pop-up markets, community events, and council meetings distributing over 3K units of produce. With the help of the American Heart Association’s Bernard J. Tyson Impact Fund and the City of Chicago Neighborhood Recovery Grant, Southside Market is preparing to launch our first location, will continue hosting monthly community events, and providing recipe bags to strategic partner organizations. Please use the ‘Contact Us’ form if you are interested in becoming a partner.

As we launch our venture, customer engagement and input will continue to drive every decision. Please join us in increasing food access and business ownership on the South side of Chicago by signing up for our newsletter or joining our Community Council. Visit our 'Engage' page to learn more about the different ways you can get involved.

Along with funding, we celebrate the invaluable support from the Greater Chatham community. In partnership with St. Stephen's Lutheran Church, SSM co-hosted a pop-up market in April 2021. The SSM team and dozens of volunteers engaged with 60+ residents and moved 700+ units of produce despite a cold and rainy weekend. Our second pop-up market, in partnership with the Greater Chatham Initiative, took place in late August on the 75th Street Boardwalk.

In 2022 and 2023, Southside Market continues to host monthly community events focused on nutrition education, live food demos, produce distribution, and collective ownership.

For more info: Southside Market FB Page & Harris Article

We have also been busy building the SSM team. We are thrilled to have Jimmy Prude, Grant Nishioka, Christine Saffold, and Dr. Geeta Maker-Clark bringing their experience in food entrepreneurship, education, grocery procurement & logistics, and community development within Greater Chatham to the Southside Market Advisory Council.

Southside Market hired two high school interns over the summer of 2022. And we are also fortunate to partner with the Chicago Shapers via the World Economic Forum's Global Shapers program for the third year in a row.
For more info: Global Shapers Chicago

In early 2024 our core Southside Market is excited to convene a formal Board of Directors and committee members as we move towards launching our first cooperatively owned and operated store. Learn more about this opportunity here.

KEY PROGRESS TO DATE

Start

Funding

Pop-Ups

Team

Southside Market's (SSM) first win in 2021 was in late February, when our team (consisting of Mabel Shiu, Monica Meriweather, Jahnvi Vaidya & Jason Winik) was accepted into University of Chicago's Social New Venture Challenge (SNVC) 2021 Cohort. After countless hours of research and preparation leading up to the SNVC Finals, SSM was one of the three finalists awarded a total of $150,000 in June 2021.

For more info: Rustandy Center & Hyde Park Herald

Our success through the SNVC program was a stepping stone to additional funding from the American Heart Association's Bernard J. Tyson Impact Fund, and our cofounder, Mabel Shiu receiving the Tarrson Social Venture Fellowship enabling her to work full time on SSM.
For more info: AHA Press Release & 2021 Tarrson Fellows

MEET OUR TEAM

MABEL SHIU

Mabel Shiu was born and raised in Skokie, IL. She is an IU Kelley graduate and a recent Chicago Booth MBA graduate with 6+ years in corporate FP&A, Operations, and IT Implementation. She has experience in social entrepreneurship consulting and workforce development locally in Chicago; CHICAT Board Fellow and Farber Fellowship with REDF in the Austin/West Garfield Park Neighborhoods. Mabel is also a 2021-2022 Tarrson Social Venture Fellow sponsored by the Rustandy Center of Social Innovation.

MARCEA LEWIS

Marcea Lewis is a Spelman College graduate and is currently attending UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, pursuing an MPH in Community Nutrition. Her legacy company That’s Marcea’s Food specializes in vegan and gluten-free comfort food and serves the Woodlawn and greater Chicagoland area. Focused on holistic healing and honoring the land which our ancestors worked and our food comes from, she has experience in community organizing, urban agriculture, and community engagement.

MONICA MERIWEATHER

Monica Meriweather is a recent UChicago Social Sector Leadership and Nonprofit Management graduate. Monica is a former resident of Chatham and has four years of experience as a public school teacher in Englewood. She is passionate about alleviating food insecurity and has 15+ years of volunteer experience with community-based organizations in Chicago.

COMMUNITY COUNCIL

This section is under construction. We excited to feature our amazing community council members.

Please visit us again soon!

ADVISORS

Christine Saffold
Entrepreneur and Former Greater Chatham Initiative Ambassador

Grant Nishioka

Former Director of Procurement and Logistics at Daily Table

Jimmy Prude

Food Entrepreneur and former Community Organizer in Auburn-Gresham

Dr. Geeta Maker-Clark
Physician, Educator, and Founder of the “The Food Is Power Program” in Englewood

G. Sequane Lawrence

President and CEO of Revolution Institute, Experienced CED Practitioner