The organization held a town hall in January that was attended by roughly 250 people, the overwhelming majority of whom were in favor of a plan to keep Tom’s Market downtown, open and locally owned, Jensen said.
“I used to run a bunch of public meetings…that was the nicest 250 people I’ve ever been in a room with,” Jensen added. “They thought it was important to continue investment and maintain a grocery store in town via some community ownership model.”
At the town hall, Gray – who took over the store a few years ago from his father and the shop’s namesake, Tom Gray – said that he had done so as his dad had decided to retire.
“Running that store for now five years almost … I have a lot more respect for him I than I ever had. And I had a lot of respect and now it’s over the top,” Jeff Gray said of his father at the town hall. “I’m looking at the future of Tom’s Market and the future of Yellow Springs … but to go forward and take this store into the future and where it needs to go for this community, I think someone with a lot more experience and knowledge with this industry is what is needed.”
Having a grocery store within the village is important to the folks who live there, Jensen said, adding that taking on Tom’s Market represents a positive investment for the foundation.
“It’s really critical to the vibrancy of the community,” he said. “It plays a food security role in that many people in town are not able to travel to get their groceries somewhere else.”
Tom’s Market has been a Yellow Springs staple since 2001, when Tom Gray bought the store from previous owner Bud Weaver, according to the store’s website. Tom started working at the market when he was 16 years old, and retired around 2022.
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