NORFOLK, Va. (WVEC) — When Nico Brabham walks by the former Farm Fresh grocery store on his way home to his downtown apartment, his curiosity gets the best of him.
"You know the crazy thing is every time I walk past I kind of peek inside to see if anything is happening," Brabham said. "Just being able to have a grocery store across the street would be amazing."
Brabham is a perfect example of a potential shopper. He lives downtown, sees the demand and says he would easily spurn shopping giants like Amazon for a local store...if it was there.
"I can see myself in and out of there a couple of times a week," he said.
He's not alone. So Linda Hester and Randi Ferraro made a plan. They are organizing a 'Wanted Urban Grocer' campaign to show potential stores that there's a sustainable demand for groceries in the downtown area. The duo is also meeting with different grocery stores to talk about the possibility.
Mary Miller of the Downtown Norfolk Council said she's encouraging Hester and Ferraro, adding they have "nothing to lose." Miller also said she hears from people asking for a grocery store all the time.
"If I had a dollar for every time I've been asked when we are getting a grocery store downtown, I could've funded a grocery store myself," Miller said jokingly.
There are some positive signs. Miller said the downtown population has increased from about 3,900 people in 2011 from when Farm Fresh closed to about 7,000 people today.
Still, others have tried and failed to bring a grocery store to downtown in the years since 2011. Hester and Ferraro hope to be the ones to break that streak, and Brabham would love to see it happen.
"Part of what is so great about living downtown is there are places on every block, so to have all these great places and not have a grocery store is kind of crazy," he said.