PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Yasmeen Brown is hoping to change the expectations people have about their neighborhood corner markets.
This weekend, she’s opening her own grocery store in the Lawncrest section of Northeast Philadelphia — a dream she said is finally coming to fruition. That dream started years ago at 600 Brill St.
“In the ’70s, all the way up until ’93, this was a grocery store — and then nothing,” recalled Brown.
Now, Bee’s Tiny Market will fill the void. Although small, there’s plenty of room for produce, stacked throughout the center aisle of the store.
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“I wanted to make it more like a luxury pantry rather than just your corner store,” she said, and fresh, healthy food will be available year-round.
“Something that my mom always says is, ‘If you can fix it, fix it,’ ” Brown said. “This has just been one of those things that I wanted to fix.”
She said fresh produce will last no more than three days in the store, which is why Brown has a fresh food counter. Good, unsold produce will be used in soups, sides and other fresh-made meals.
“It’s all about making people want what you have.”
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The market also sells locally made foods from Philly vendors.
“That was one of the problems that we needed to fix,” she added, “making sure that we can support each other — Philly-local brands as well as Black brands and women-owned and LGBTQ, we all need to support each other.”
She promises this venture is just the start.
“We are not just opening up a store. We are starting a movement, so we will be opening up another one — mark my words.”
For more on Bee’s Tiny Market, listen to the KYW Newsradio original podcast What’s Cooking on the Audacy app or in the audio player above.