This article was first published by the nonprofit newsroom LA Public Press on Dec. 19, and is republished here with permission.
The El Sereno Green Grocer is unlike your average Los Angeles grocery store.
Customers are greeted by smiling faces and an array of thoughtfully curated goods produced by independent farmers and cooks who specialize in their craft.
It’s a place where shoppers are guaranteed to feel at home — or find something that reminds them of it. Jars of specialty jams, hand poured candles, handmade cards, and sodas that can otherwise only be found in Central America line the shelves. It’s immediately easy to tell that the queer, women-owned space, and the people who run it, are special.
Though it provides all of this and more, the Green Grocer has run out of money and is scheduled to close for business on Jan. 31, ending its time as a brick and mortar doing what it has always done: bring people together. Events such as vendor pop-ups and community gatherings will continue as planned in December and January.
“ This is our transitionary period where we are enjoying every moment that life gives us and we’re gonna continue to share with community regardless beyond the brick and mortar,” said co-owner Erika Crenshaw.
Crenshaw and partner Patricia Torres announced the decision to close on Instagram earlier this month, warning that only a gift or low-interest loan of $500,000 could keep the business open.
Together, the couple opened Green Grocer in June 2023 to honor “BIPOC [Black Indigenous People of Color] farmers, food artisans, traditional foodways, and holistic nourishment in all its forms.” They chose to open the store in a neighborhood that has been identified as one of LA’s food deserts, an area where grocery stores are scarce and the rate of poverty is higher than 20%.
Crenshaw said that nothing lasts forever and, “the closure of some chapters is also a very important skill set to be able to flex.”
“It’s better to fail forward because you’re doing what’s right, than to not move at all because you’re doing what people expect you to do,” said Crenshaw. “But, did we really fail? Hell nah!”
Crenshaw and Torres will continue their work around food and community-building as stewards for the El Sereno Community Garden.
Green Grocer staffer Shabina Toorawa said there were a lot of factors that led to the decision to close the shop. One important one was difficulty raising funds without compromising on the values that the Green Grocer is built on. Its mission was to provide quality, ethically-sourced products and produce, and to provide a living wage and benefits to employees.
“One of the grants that we were promised from the city has been delayed over nine months,” said Toorawa.
And despite proving the young business’s potential and growing customer base, banks and other potential lenders and funders were not willing to sign on, the owners said.
“I’m holding out for a Christmas miracle,” said Toowara. ”When I think about what the shop is, it is genuinely practicing community care and noticing, observing, and intervening, and feeling responsible for a community.”
Toowara said the shop fills a greater need for third spaces and togetherness. “In society right now, people are lonely, people are seeking connection,” they said.
Regular shopper Angie Maiorca said it would be hard to replicate what Crenshaw and Torres have curated for the community. She said Green Grocer is so much more than a business that sells food.
“That community that they create is what you can’t find [in] other places,” she said.
Maiorca was devastated by the news of the Green Grocer’s impending closing but has high hopes for what Torres and Crenshaw may do next.
“ It is an incredible space, and I wish for everybody that they could experience it,” she said. “And know that this is possible. But it needs support.”
Mairoca called Crenshaw and Torres brave for creating the space in the first place. She said its spirit and legacy will live on.
“I know whatever they do next is going to be just as wonderful,” said Maiorca.
Crenshaw and Torres set out to feature culturally relevant foods for El Sereno showcasing a range of Latinx, Asian, and Middle Eastern ingredients, artisans, and products that aren’t easily all found in any one place.
And the Green Grocer became a platform from which many small businesses could grow. Those small businesses include Navarro Coffee Co., a Los Angeles-based coffee roaster.
Owner Emely Navarro founded the business to showcase her love of El Salvador and the coffee farm she grew up on. She sources beans from farms across El Salvador and sells them on her website and in stores like Green Grocer.
Navarro said the Green Grocer opened its doors to her, and with encouragement from Crenshaw and Torres, enabled her business to grow.
“Their support has meant so much to me and to the entire El Sereno community,” said Navarro. “They really have created a community that is kind and they just really want to help their neighbors and small businesses.”
Navarro and Toowara said Crenshaw and Torres have set a new standard for what a grocery store could be for a community.
“I live in the San Fernando Valley, and every time I come here […] I’m like, ‘I wish I had a Green Grocer in my area,’” said Navarro.
Navarro and many other customers share the hope that the El Sereno Green Grocer can be a blueprint for others to come.
“ Erika and Patricia have made such an influence on everybody in this community, and beyond that, I think people that had the privilege to experience the store, it really touched their lives. I think it would hopefully encourage other people to do something similar,” said Navarro.
“ I am hopeful that other stores like this will come out of it,” she added.
Crenshaw, who greets everyone with a warm hello and introduces herself and the staff to every new shopper, said the Green Grocer’s success belongs to everyone who shops there.
“This is not necessarily ours. We don’t own this,” she said. “We’re not claiming it to be ours alone because we cannot do it alone. It’s everybody’s right. It’s the collective gathering and wellbeing of everybody that made it possible.”
LA Public Press is an independent newsroom that publishes news in support of a healthier Los Angeles. The non-profit does journalism that interrogates systems of power while supporting those trying to build more equitable and resilient communities.