Community grocery store opens in project championed by Roanoke professor, center

Richmond Vincent had barely settled into his new role as president of Goodwill’s regional operations when he got a visit from Health and Human Performance Professor Liz Ackley.  

Backed by neighborhood advocates and reams of data, Ackley made the case for an audacious proposal: To build a grocery store in Northwest Roanoke, an underserved community that spent decades as a food desert, lacking easy access to healthy, affordable groceries. 

The professor, who also leads Roanoke College’s Center for Community Health Innovation, asked Vincent for his help with the bold idea. 

“That was the first week I was here,” Vincent recalled with laughter. No one could have faulted him for sidestepping the request. But Ackley’s pitch convinced him to take another look. 

“It was her passion,” he reflected. “She brought data to the table. And the data said this community needed a grocery store. It deserved a grocery store.” 

On Nov. 13 — three years after Vincent and Ackley met, nine years after Ackley and a diverse community team started their research, and more than two decades after neighbors began asking for a grocery store — the community came together to celebrate a long-awaited victory: Market on Melrose was now open. 

“This means the literal world to me,” Ackley said, tears in her eyes, as she rose to address the crowd of hundreds who came out for the market’s ribbon-cutting — including a line of eager shoppers wrapped around the building waiting to be the first customers. 

“This is not only about making healthy and affordable food more accessible,” she said. “It’s about creating access to a basic resource that every thriving community deserves.” 

The journey that led up to the ribbon-cutting started in 2015 when Ackley’s center and a team of government leaders, nonprofits and businesses joined together to become part of the national Invest Health Initiative and develop transformational solutions to community health inequities. Decades of community data was analyzed, and the largest-ever known survey of Northwest Roanoke was launched.

RELATED: Invest Health lessons learned in efforts to advance health equity in Roanoke, Virginia

The public’s plea for a grocery store prompted extensive market research, wholesaler outreach and development planning. The vision expanded to include a wellness clinic, bank and adult learning center — a true community hub.

In 2021, Roanoke City committed $10 million in federal pandemic relief funds to the project. Goodwill Industries of the Valleys stepped up to steward the development and build the new center at its location on Melrose Avenue, a site that also offers a public library and will be the future home of the Harrison Museum of African American Culture. 

Throughout the project, Ackley and her center played a pivotal role, tirelessly researching, advocating and organizing on behalf of the neighborhood’s dream. Twenty-two student researchers from Roanoke College aided the work at different stages. 

Emma Duff ’19 just accepted a new job with the Virginia Department of Health, where she'll support health assessment initiatives in local communities, a role with direct ties to the skills she learned as a research assistant for Ackley. 

The chance to be part of a project creating genuine change on the ground was an invaluable opportunity as an undergraduate, Duff said. 

“That’s part of the beauty of Roanoke College. It’s community immersed,” she said. “Liz is a wonderful teacher and showed us through example what it means to be a community changemaker. Her passion and tenacity were inspiring.” 

During the ribbon-cutting, Ackley was presented with a ceremonial key to the Market on Melrose, symbolizing the key role she played in making the project a reality. In her remarks, she marveled at the extensive coalition that had come together to reach this moment: elected officials, city planners, community organizers, business leaders, educators, health care providers and hundreds of neighborhood residents. 

“It is unusual for an academic institution to lead community development efforts of this magnitude, and I need to say thank you to my former and current administrative leaders [at Roanoke College],” she said. “Thank you for saying yes to innovation, for being open and eager to invest in collaborations that provide as many benefits to our community as they do to our students and faculty, and for supporting me in my role at the Center for Community Health Innovation.”  

The Market on Melrose illustrates the heights that can be reached when dedicated, courageous people come together to take on challenges, Ackley added. Already, community partners are looking ahead to what’s next, including the opening of the wellness clinic and adult learning center next year. 

Roanoke Mayor Sherman Lea described it as a transformative moment for the city. 

“Today, as we cut the ribbon, we open more than a market,” he said. “We open doors to opportunity, to help and to hope.”