A free grocery store opened Tuesday inside the Fairmount Heights Branch Library in Prince George’s County, bringing produce, dairy, meat and other staples to a community long described as a food desert. The Fairmount Five Market is the first permanent Goodr location to open inside a library and the company’s first site in the Washington area.
The market is expected to serve more than 200 families each month, with nearly 200 households already accepted to shop there and a waiting list already in place. Residents had to apply in advance, and shoppers receive a reusable grocery bag before being allowed to choose what they need from the shelves. On opening day, the selection included green peppers, apples, oranges, bananas and potatoes.
Jasmine Crowe-Houston, who founded Goodr, said the model is built around the experience of shopping rather than receiving a handout. “This is a real grocery store,” she said. “This is not something that’s just giving to people. We really want it to be dignity and treating people well.” She added that shoppers “get to come in and go shopping, no questions asked.”
Goodr, an Atlanta-based company, has opened 34 similar stores across the country since 2021, but the Fairmount Five Market marks a new step for the organization in the region. The store was launched through a partnership between Prince George’s County and Goodr and is funded through a county grant that will keep it stocked each week. Families can register through District 5 or the library, and the market operates on a set schedule, with shoppers notified when they can come in.
The need was especially visible in who signed up first. Most of the households accepted so far are led by seniors, a point Prince George’s County Council member Shayla Adams-Stafford highlighted as the store opened. “So many of our seniors were suffering in silence, not able to afford grocery store prices, but maybe they made a little bit too much to qualify for food programs,” she said. “Having a program like this that allows them to come and shop with dignity, it really is going to make a big difference here.”
Prince George’s County Council Chair Krystal Oriadha said another free grocery store is set to open soon in District 7, signaling that the county is trying to turn a single project into something bigger. The opening came on World Hunger Day, and Maryland first lady Dawn Moore attended to underscore the state’s broader food-access push. Moore said Maryland is investing in food access through its Food is Medicine initiative and said a new Medically Tailored Meals program launched this month will provide nearly one million meals to more than 3,000 Marylanders.
Moore said older neighborhoods should not be left behind simply because they are not new or flashy. “These are older communities, they are established communities, but they are deserving of all of the opportunities that every community throughout the state of Maryland can offer and have,” she said. In Fairmount Heights, that promise now has a shelf, a checkout line and a set of groceries that people can take home for free.
