A free grocery store opened inside the Fairmount Heights Branch Library in Prince George’s County on World Hunger Day, giving residents in one of the county’s food deserts a new place to shop for food at no cost. The Fairmount Five Market is the first permanent Goodr store to open inside a library and the first Goodr location in the D.C. area.

The store will serve more than 200 families each month, offering meat, dairy, produce, juices and other staples. Residents had to apply in advance to shop, and nearly 200 households have already been accepted. There is also a waiting list. On opening day, the shelves held green peppers, apples, oranges, bananas and potatoes, and each shopper received a reusable grocery bag.

The market is a partnership between Prince George’s County and Goodr, an Atlanta-based company that has opened 34 similar stores across the country since 2021. The store is funded through a county grant, and families in Prince George’s County can register through District 5 or the library. It is open on a set schedule.

Jasmine Crowe-Houston, Goodr’s founder, said the market is meant to function like a regular store rather than a handout. “This is a real grocery store,” she said, adding that the goal is dignity. “They get to come in and go shopping, no questions asked,” she said. Crowe-Houston also said shoppers are asked to bring back the reusable bags.

The model is designed for residents who may not qualify for food programs but still struggle to pay grocery store prices. Prince George’s County Council member Shayla Adams-Stafford said many seniors were “suffering in silence,” unable to afford food but making too much money to qualify for assistance. “Having a program like this that allows them to come and shop with dignity, it really is going to make a big difference here,” she said.

Most of the households accepted so far are led by seniors, a detail that reflects the pressure on older residents in Fairmount Heights. Adams-Stafford helped bring the store to the community, and county leaders say a second free grocery store is set to open in District 7 soon. Krystal Oriadha, the county council chair, said the county plans to keep expanding the model.

Maryland first lady Dawn Moore attended the opening and tied the market to the state’s broader anti-hunger push. She said older communities are “deserving of all of the opportunities” available elsewhere in Maryland. Moore also said the state’s Food is Medicine initiative now includes a new Medically Tailored Meals program that launched this month and will provide nearly 1 million meals to more than 3,000 Marylanders. In Fairmount Heights, the immediate question has already been answered: the people who were accepted now have a place to walk in, choose food and leave with groceries they can actually use.