Browse the aisles of Fairfax Market and you’ll not only find Meijer and national brands but also baked goods, beauty and other products made by local small businesses.
When the market opened just over a year ago at East 105 Street and Cedar Avenue, it was touted as an oasis in a food desert. But it has brought more than fresh fruits and vegetables to the Fairfax neighborhood. The market is a nurturing environment for the Greater Cleveland entrepreneurs whose products line the store’s shelves..
The market is one of several in the Meijer chain with a focus on supporting local vendors by selling their products and mentoring them, said Store Director Alan Jordan. The market carries 2,000-plus products from more than 150 Ohio vendors, many of them based in Northeast Ohio, he said. Some even live in Fairfax.
I feel like I’ve come full circle. When I was growing up, we wanted a grocery store nearby that had fresh products and quality food. Now, I’m a vendor who is part of making this happen.”
Alia Edwards, owner of MacAttack, whose macaroni and cheese is sold at Fairfax Market.
Products by Greater Cleveland vendors on Fairfax Market’s shelves include Catlin Naturals, a chemical-free body care line with items such as facial scrubs and body butters. Celene’s Confections makes cupcakes and macarons (French cookies with crisp shells and soft, chewy fillings.) MacAttack is a Southern-style macaroni and cheese. Many of the vendors, including these three, are people of color, Jordan said.
For decades, finding somewhere to shop for nutritious and affordable food in Fairfax was a challenge, as in many working-class and low-income neighborhoods. The neighborhood’s median household income was $44,043, according to a 2024 analysis of government data by the Center for Community Solutions. Cleveland’s median household was $55,000.
Cleveland City Council President Blaine Griffin, whose ward includes the grocery store, was intent on attracting a grocery store.. He helped find public funding to build the market, including a low-interest $1.5 million loan and a $200,000 grant from casino revenue funds.
Often the relationship between Fairfax Market and the vendors goes beyond just carrying their products.
“We help give them the tools and the support to grow their business in a safe space,” Jordan said.
New winning MacAttack product for Fairfax Market
To-go containers of mac and cheese are stacked next to carryout packages of fried chicken pieces and rotisserie chickens in a heated case near the front of the store. MacAttack owner Alia Edwards said her company didn’t sell the 6-ounce, to-go containers before coming to Fairfax Market.
She remembers being elated when Jordan told her the store would carry MacAttack in the 12-ounce refrigerated size. Then he made a request. Would she package MacAttack in a smaller size the store would heat and sell as a side dish with the carryout chicken, a popular lunch?
“I said, ‘Let’s see if this works,” Edwards said. “I’m glad I did. They’ve been selling a ton of it. It gave me the opportunity to expand my product line and reach a larger customer base.”
Jordan is also pleased with the success, noting that it gives Edwards a product she can sell elsewhere to expand her business.
Customer DeMarco Wells sampled MacAttack for the first time at the market’s one-year anniversary event in January. A few minutes later, he bought a 6-ounce MacAttack as part of his lunch.
“That’s mama mac and cheese, right there,” he said of the homemade taste.
Edwards remembers growing up in Fairfax, which even years ago was a food desert, and how her family had to take the bus out of the neighborhood to shop for groceries.
“I feel like I’ve come full circle,” she said. “When I was growing up, we wanted a grocery store nearby that had fresh products and quality food. Now, I’m a vendor who is part of making this happen.”
Celene’s Confections sells macarons with one ‘o,’ not the coconut cookie
Lydia Carter, who owns Celene’s Confections, remembers packing up some of her key lime macarons last spring and heading to Fairfax Market for an appointment.
It was an “audition” with two store managers, who would decide if the store would carry the cookie. Carter had to make sure they didn’t confuse macarons with macaroons, the chewy coconut cookie spelled with an additional “o.” The real test would be whether managers liked how the macarons tasted.
Carter watched in suspense with each bite they took.
“Then they smiled and said, ‘Yes, this is what we want,’” said Carter, who lives in the neighboring Central neighborhood.
The macarons were on shelves a few weeks later, and the store began carrying her cupcakes last fall. Carter likes how the store promotes her products. Around Valentine’s Day, she sold them at the market from a table laden with her popular red velvet cupcake samples and small boxes of macarons. Carter, who has been in business since 2001, said it was her most lucrative Valentine’s Day ever.
“When I reviewed my sales report, I cried,” she said, tears of joy. “I just couldn’t believe it.”
Mentoring entrepreneurs that need a little help
While Carter and Edwards had experience selling in retail establishments before coming to Fairfax Market, it was a new process for other entrepreneurs. Jordan has worked one-on-one with those business owners to level up.
Sometimes vendors’ products don’t have UPC codes, the barcodes needed to scan items at checkout. Fairfax Market can provide codes unique to the store to spare these owners, many of whom run their businesses as side hustles, the expense, Jordan said.
Others may need help producing and packaging their products using commercial standards. Jordan connects these businesses with places such as Central Kitchen, which provides training and development for food entrepreneurs. Sometimes, entrepreneurs need help with the basics, such as how to price their products. Jordan has walked them through this step by step.
“It’s incredibly rewarding and satisfying to see these local businesses grow and succeed and for us to be able to say, ‘Hey, we were there and we got to witness it,’” he said.
The market does more than help with basics. It boosts products, as it did with Carter on Valentine’s Day. Jordan also promotes vendors in other ways, including in a blog on fairfaxmarket.com and on programs on WOVU 95.9 FM.
“I’m always going to try to work with folks to help them to be successful because it helps us be successful,” he said.
Fairfax-based Catlin Naturals body care increases sales
Andrea Catlin was among the Fairfax residents involved in the planning process that brought the market to their neighborhood. Her excitement about helping to attract a quality grocery store only doubled when she learned that it would have an emphasis on selling the products of local entrepreneurs. The market has sold her body care brand since the store opened.
Catlin, who started Catlin Naturals in 2018, said the grocery store has turned out to be a win for her as a resident and an entrepreneur.
“There is nothing like seeing your products on the shelf of a major retailer, and especially in the community where you live,” she said.
During the anniversary event, Catlin stood at a table covered with the body butters, lotions and other products she sells. Catlin and her daughter, Ashley Hayden, answered customers’ questions and accepted their compliments about the line.
Shopper Sabrina Edwards smiled as she enjoyed the aroma of the cedar musk body butter she rubbed into her hands. She’s been a Catlin Naturals customer since the market opened and has recommended the product “to a lot of people.”
“It doesn’t irritate my skin, and it lasts a long time,” she said.
Catlin said having the market carry her products has exposed her line to more shoppers and made her brand more recognizable. Catlin said doing demonstrations and other events at the store have also helped increase sales. The “awesome customer feedback” has also inspired new products and fragrances.
“Being here has allowed me to elevate and move things to the next level,” she said. “It’s been a wonderful experience for me.”
Making a mark in what was a food desert
As part of the effort to bring a supermarket to Fairfax, Griffin, the council president, had “porch conversations” with residents.
People told Griffin they wanted a supermarket that had “a neighborhood feel.” He said this included being a “community store where everybody felt welcome and where everybody got to know each other.” Residents also wanted the neighborhood to derive some economic benefit from the store, including jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities.
Griffin visited a Meijer market concept store in Grand Rapids, Michigan, seven years ago with officials from the nonprofit Fairfax Renaissance Development Corp. (FRDC). It had a neighborhood feel, he said, and he was impressed to see local entrepreneurs selling their products. The market concept stores differ from the supercenters typical to the chain in that they are smaller and focus on carrying local vendors.
“It was not like supermarkets you’re used to seeing,” he said.
Griffin was intent on getting such a store in Fairfax. However, Meijer didn’t have any market concept stores in Ohio and none in food deserts like Fairfax throughout the chain.
The corner where the store now stands is near the Cleveland Clinic’s main campus and Opportunity Corridor, a commuter road connecting the University Circle hospital and university workforce to Interstate 490 heading west. It is a short drive from East Side suburbs such as Cleveland Heights and Shaker Heights, where the store sends mailers.
Along with those working professionals, the market has a built-in customer base as part of a roughly 200-unit apartment complex developed by the Clinic and Fairfax Renaissance. A few hundred apartment units in other developments are also planned for the area.
Before the store opened, Jordan said some questioned whether the store would be able to find enough entrepreneurs to make the market concept work. He had 300 businesses from which to choose, before deciding on 150. Few have left.
He said if there were ever any concerns about operating in a food desert, Fairfax Market’s success has dashed them.
Edwards, the Catlin Naturals customer, who lives in East Cleveland, has been a loyal customer since the store opened.
“I love shopping here,” she said. “I love that they have local businesses. Other places wouldn’t want them in their stores. They wouldn’t want the competition.”
