by Kyle Garvey
*North Market is a 145-year-old covered market space, representing Ohio’s best independent merchants, farmers, and makers. Their Columbus location is 59 Spruce St. (43215) and their Dublin location is 6750 Longshore St. (43017).
*Weiland’s Market has been independent and family-owned for 50 years! Their Clintonville location is 3600 Indianola Ave. (43214).
*Smith’s, famous for their pies, has plenty of farm-fresh goodness all year long. Local fruits and vegetables, baked goods, wine. You’ll love the juicy smells of everything they have! Smith’s is 3341 Winchester Pike (43232).
*Hills Market, with locations downtown (95 N Grant Ave., 43215) and in Worthington (7860 Olentangy River Rd., 43085), is a specialty grocer with some deep Central Ohio roots.
*Bexley Natural Market, at 508 Cassady Ave. (43209), is a not-for-profit grocery co-op with wide and healthful selections.
*Carfagna’s, with both a Market (1405 E. Dublin Granville Rd., 43229) and Kitchen (2025 Polaris Pkwy., 43240), is a great place for family-owned, fast-casual Italian food.
*Clintonville Natural Foods, at 4398 Indianola Ave (43214), is a great place for high-quality vegan, organic, and non-animal products!
*Raisin Rack Natural Food Market in Westerville, at 2545 W. Schrock Rd. (43081), offers a whole lot of vegan and vegetarian groceries, supplements, personal care items, and much more.
*La Michoacana Mexican Market’s a very impressive resource for Mexican and Latin American products (about 60% of which are directly imported). Great produce of course and excellent in-house butchered meats. Many Columbus locations: at least eight.
*Al-Mustafa is an excellent resource for Arab food. There, you can find halal meat, a big dairy case, and excellent spices and snacks. Al-Mustafa’s at 5435 Bethel Sawmill Center (43235).
*Mediterranean Imports stocks ingredients for a whole bunch of Mediterranean cuisines — Greek, Turkish, Lebanese, and Indian! From basics like olives or feta cheese, to more complex products like couscous, loose leaf teas, and canned dolmas. They’re at 2647 N High St. (43232) in Clintonville.
*Istanbul Supermarket has Turkish, Greek, Middle Eastern, and African products. Fig jam, fresh feta and olives, or any other unique Turkish product you might not see anywhere else in the city. Istanbul Supermarket’s Columbus spot is 5221 Bethel Ctr. (43220).
*Tensuke is a Japanese market with an impressive selection. They sell mushrooms, fishes, persimmons, as well as prepared sushi. The freshness of all their stuff is really hard to beat. Tensuke’s located at 1167 Old Henderson Rd. (43220).
*Sunrise Asian Super Market has products from all over Asia, whether Chinese, Korean, Japanese, or from elsewhere. If you need some excellent, hard-to-find produce like long beans and bok choy, or wide varieties of basics like rice noodles or tofu, Sunrise is the place. They’re at 1841 W Henderson Rd. (43220).
*Chuchay’s is a great spot for Filipino groceries. They stock wonderful products like marinated Filipino BBQ skewers and mango puree. Chuchay’s is located at 6867 Schrock Hill Ct. (43229).
*Diana Deli sells products of Russian origin, but also those commonly found in Ukrainian, Polish, and other kitchens. Check out this place for cured meats, caviar, and marinated mushrooms. Diana Deli Russian store is located at 3520 W Dublin Granville Rd. (43235) in NW Columbus.
So shift your shopping: with just a quick and easy adjustment you can make sure more of your money (an average of 2.5x!) re-circulates here and less of it goes to Wall Street investors, out-of-state suppliers, or franchise fees. Just a 10% shift from chain to local keeps $312 million in Franklin County every year – enough to create 5000 new jobs!
It’s estimated every American pays about $5000 every year in a “hidden tax” to corporations charging monopoly prices just because they can. High prices for internet services, hospital stays, insurance, drugs, bank fees, etc. are due to deregulation and privatization policies. This global consumer economy runs on fossil fuels, destroys ecosystems, creates income inequality, and other nastiness.
For more info, check out Support Our Local Economies (solenow.org) and an article by Thom Hartmann (https://hartmannreport.com/p/the-demise-of-local-entrepreneurialism).
Be a conscious consumer. When more of our dollars circulate locally, communities create more wealth and become more resilient and sustainable.