Get your fresh, nutritious foods at the Public Market, and make it SNAPPY!

Hey you! Did you know that you can get 50% off your produce and grocery items when you pay with SNAP at the Public Market, Wheeling’s premier nonprofit grocery store downtown? 

The Public Market, a project of Grow Ohio Valley, partners with local and regional farmers to bring fresh produce, eggs, meat, and dairy products to Wheeling. The Market receives funding through the WV Food and Farm Coalition as well as a private donor for their SNAP Stretch program, which allows them to offer extensive discounts for SNAP/EBT customers on a wide variety of grocery items and produce. 

“A lot of people use it just for the extension to be able to get the fresh produce and the better cuts of meat and the healthier options,” Operations Manager Robin Davis said.

And many people do utilize the program – In the month of May alone, the Market had a total of 1,054 SNAP transactions. 

Robin also encourages locals to utilize the Market’s membership program, which starts at $50 a year and can greatly increase savings. 

“Families getting ingredients for meals and things in bulk do that and from shelf price to what they’re paying, it can be up to 70% off,” she said. 

Before the Public Market opened in 2019, Downtown Wheeling and the surrounding neighborhoods were considered to be a food desert, which is an area with limited or no access to fresh, nutritious food options, particularly for those with limited mobility or transportation options. 

“With so many elderly people and income-based high rises around us, a lot of those people don’t have cars and can’t go anywhere else,” Robin said. “So they can stop here, get the most bang for their buck and get the healthiest options.” For those elders, the Public Market also accepts senior vouchers as part of the WV Department of Agriculture’s Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program.

Further, utilizing the SNAP Stretch program and shopping at Public Market stimulates the local economy, Robin said, noting that 80% of produce sales go right back into the hands of local farmers.

“We’ve had people embarrassed about using SNAP or feeling shameful. We fully welcome and encourage it,” she said. “We love being able to offer the discount, we would never ever question anybody or judge anybody for using those benefits. Those are hard working people that are paying the same taxes we are.”