PATERSON — Shana Manradge could have given up her dream last year when city health officials, citing license issues, shut down the fresh food store that she was running through the internet out of her Paterson home.
But Manradge was more resilient than that.
City officials said she needed to open a traditional brick-and-mortar shop to get a retail license for selling food.
So that’s what Manradge did. After conducting fundraisers and hunting for a location, Manradge on Saturday held the grand opening of “A Better Market” at 215 Rosa Parks Boulevard in Paterson’s 4th Ward. The store specializes in selling food from Black-owned farms and businesses at affordable prices.
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Manradge said she didn’t overcome the obstacles alone.
“The community has been with me through this entire journey,” she said, seated at a table near the window in her new shop. “They’ve seen the highs and lows.”
Manradge’s quest is to change the way people think about what they eat and what city dwellers “deserve.”She said she has tried to improve the way food is delivered to cities, with products that are fresher, healthier and cheaper, and with fewer middlemen between the farms and the dinner tables of her customers.
For Manradge, it was poetic that she found a retail space on Rosa Parks Boulevard, which is in the heart of the 4th Ward, where she grew up.
What visitors will notice when entering the 1,200-square-foot shop is the wide-open floor and large windows that let the sunlight in. This design is no accident. She said it’s a rejection of the idea that a neighborhood’s corner store has to be crammed with “dusty food in narrow aisles.”
The open space will also allow her to host community meetings and classes.
The new shop will feature the same products her previous customers bought, food from Black-owned farms, including meat and days-old eggs from Smith Poultry in South Jersey and produce from Seventh Heaven Farms in Warren County.
“I’m loyal to a fault,” Manradge said about her business relationships.
Her nonperishable products sit on shelves of natural wood that she and her husband made themselves — yes, add carpentry to her list of talents. She also made a replica of a raised garden bed — a nod to the freshness of her food — where she will stock fresh produce from farms and from the community garden across the street.
“I want to partner with people that have the same vision to better the community and make sure we get what we deserve,” she said about the community garden.
Connection between health and what people eat
Manradge, who worked for 30 years in the medical field, long knew the connection between health and what people eat. Working out of the garage at her home near Eastside Park, she began making weekly trips to farms for eggs, meat and produce for about 25 friends and families in the area.
But the same day Paterson Press published a story about A Better Market, the city’s health department ordered Manradge to shut down. Health officer Paul Persaud said the news coverage had nothing to do with the citation. Instead, it came from an anonymous complaint, he said.
“But we’ll never know,” Manradge said with a smile.
Persaud said she needed a retail food license, but in order to get one she needed a brick-and-mortar shop. Looking back, however, Manradge admits there was a silver lining to the debacle. It pushed her out of her comfort zone.
“I was very comfortable working out of my home — I would probably still be there today,” she said. “But this gave me time to reinvent myself.”
The brewing corner
In the back of her store is a small display Manradge calls the brewing corner, where she sells homemade tinctures and homeopathic remedies, such as vanilla extract; magnesium oil, which can be used as a pain reliever; turmeric and honey soap; and rosemary and clove oil for hair regrowth.
The city shutdown, she said, also made her realize how much support she had from Paterson residents — and others beyond the city’s borders, such as Sal LaRosa, owner of LaNeve’s in Haledon, who donated his banquet hall for one of her fundraisers last October.
These friendships came in handy this past year, which was filled with fundraising events and finding a commercial space. It wasn’t easy. Manradge even briefly considered opening a spot in a neighboring town to save on costs and avoid Paterson’s rules for such things as parking requirements.
Although she has her sights set on expanding to other places — Newark is alluring to her — she reminded herself of a promise.
“It was non-negotiable that my first store was in Paterson,” she said.
Community garden across the street
Manradge recently visited the community garden across the street from her shop. There, Deacon Willie Davis was sitting in the shade. He told Paterson Press that before he built his garden a decade ago, there was a building with a liquor store.
Davis said he sees Manradge’s mission as similar to his own. It’s partly about healthy food — with “none of the bad stuff,” he said, meaning pesticides and other chemicals. But it’s also about working together to empower the community.
“What she’s doing and what I’m doing is basically the same thing,” Davis said.
“This is just the beginning,” he said.
