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The ribbon-cutting for the Carver Jones Market in Titusville’s Heritage Towne Centre heralded a first and a last.
James Harris, owner of the new grocery store, said it is the first of many that will come to Birmingham. But he said it will be the last that is owned by him and his family.
“All of the future Carver Jones (stores) will be owned by the Carver Jones Foundation,” Harris said Wednesday. “Why is that so important? It will open up the door for federal, state and local tax benefits and funding to get these stores in the needed communities around our country. That’s the most important thing to me: Seeing the need addressed, going where nobody wants to go, doing what nobody has the guts to do. It’s that umbrella of caring for people that we want to have the opportunity to serve you.”
The new grocery store in the Woodland Park neighborhood of Titusville is part of a push to make fresh food available in areas of Birmingham where residents have few choices nearby. The area has been without a grocery store since 2023, when Sav A Lot closed despite incentives offered by the city. Much of Birmingham, particularly some of its western areas, are in food deserts, where fresh groceries are not readily accessible to residents.
Harris said the initial Carver Jones Market in Fairfield was a dry run for what launched Wedesday. That store closed but is now operated by Urban Hope Community Church.
Harris acknowledged that the Titusville store, which also was awarded incentives as part of the city’s drive to answer food deserts, is not yet all he wants it to be.
“Right now, as a retailer, I’m not happy because our store is not perfect,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of problems we’ve got to address. You may not see them (but) I see them. I know that they’re there, and I like to do things … . Everything we do with excellence.”
The store’s grand opening will be Sept. 19. The foundation will be based at the grocery store at 873 Dennison Avenue SW.
“The city needs at least three more (Carver Jones Markets),” Harris said. “There’s a market study that we’ll do to help verify what’s the best place for those locations, just like we did this store. There’s 31,000 people in a 5-mile radius at this location.”
