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At These Grocery Stores, No One Pays
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of Civil Eats
Posted: September 27th, 2025
https://civileats.com/2025/04/14/at-these-grocery-stores-no-...
Parents with small children, teenagers, and senior citizens clustered outside the door and waited to hear their ticket numbers called. They weren’t there for books. They came to shop for groceries. Connected to the [Enoch Pratt Library], the brightly painted market space is small but doesn’t feel cramped. Massive windows drench it in sunshine. In a previous life, it was a café. Now, shelves, tables, counters, and a refrigerator are spread out across the room, holding a mix of produce and shelf-stable goods. On any given day, there’s a range of produce, like collard greens, apples, onions, radishes, potatoes, and cherry tomatoes, plus eggs, orange juice, rice, bread, and treats like cookies and peanut butter crackers. As they exited, shoppers did not need to pull out their wallets: No one pays at Pratt Free Market. Launched in the fall of 2024, Pratt Free Market opens its doors every Wednesday and Friday and serves around 200 people per day. Anyone can pick up food at the store without providing identification or meeting income requirements. For Baltimore residents, 28 percent reported experiencing food insecurity last year—twice the national average. Pratt Free Market ... offers a mix of everything—from healthy, fresh produce to sweets. And every fourth Friday, the marker turns into “Pantry on the Go!”, a farmers’ market-style setup outside the library that offers fruits and vegetables. Last month ... they handed out onions, sweet potatoes, watermelons, celery, and apples.
Note: Explore more positive stories like this on reimagining the economy.
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