Alabama-grown produce added to City Meats & Vegetables offerings

For more than 23 years, City Meats & Vegetables has been serving the Woodlawn community. 

Now, after working with REV Birmingham and their Urban Food Project, City Meats is providing locals with fresh produce alongside their usual spread of products.

Randy Newell is the current owner of City Meats, which was the pilot site for REV’s Farm to Corner Store program and continues to make changes such as monthly promotions, product diversification, as well as in-store marketing and merchandising. 

There is even a mural on the side of City Meats, painted with the help of Woodlawn High School art students, to freshen up the exterior of the building. 

Whenever the REV team wants to propose new ideas, Director of the Urban Food Project Taylor Clark said, Newell is always open to his store being used as a testing ground. 

Together, Newell and the Urban Food Project have learned the challenges of successfully sourcing, pricing and selling fresh produce in smaller corner stores. 

“The Urban Food Project team supported [Newell] in conducting a focus group last year to identify his business growth opportunities,” Clark said. “Since then, [Newell] has launched wholeheartedly into a store improvement process with support from REV and continues to invest time and resources into improving his store.”

City Meats & Vegetables is located at 5535 1st Ave. N. and can be reached at 591-7206. Updates to the Urban Food Project can be found on their website, revbirmingham.org and donations can be made at 595-0562.