- The West Side of Thomasville was a food desert for years, with only snacks, soda, and fast food available.
- Owner Rendall Mash is now working with small, local farmers to supply fresh, flavorful produce and meats.
- The store plans to host farmers monthly so neighbors can meet who grows their food—and feel inspired to shop healthier.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
When your only options are chips and soda, that's what dinner becomes.
But now...Folks in Thomasville's West Side are reaching for collards, tomatoes, and meat.
I'm showing you how a neighborhood grocery store is trading snacks for something better with the help of Georgia's farmers.
Rendall Mash grew up coming to this very store. When it shut down, the West Side was left without a real grocery option. So he stepped up—and reopened it.
"When I moved back here, I realized that there was a need for access to food, grocery, and that type of thing in this particular area," said Mash. "I remember growing up here, coming into this store as a kid, and to see it closed, I just thought that it was an opportunity. So I decided to take on that challenge and try to get this store back up and running and to provide us a small section of actual grocery items to the neighborhood."
But he didn't want to just sell food—he wanted it to be good food. Fresh, local, and grown by farmers right here in South Georgia.
One of those farmers is Quentin Jones in Cairo. He brings his harvest straight from the fields to the store shelves—no warehouses, no freezers.
"My produce is fresh out of the field," said Jones. "If I don't have it, I need to work with some of the local farmers around here and still be able to get it fresh. Versus, I don't know how long the produce in the grocery store has been sitting in the freezer. You don't know that. Nine times out of ten, when this comes in, it's fresh right out of the field.
And for small farmers, this partnership means more than just business—it's a way to reach more people and share what they've worked hard to grow.
"Well, knowing that I'm able to branch out with the different produce, they go out to different counties, so different people get to taste the different forms of produce that you have," said Jones.
Mash says he's planning to bring the local farmers out once or twice a month so folks can meet the people growing their food and get inspired to shop healthier.
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