On a bitingly cold day back in February, Elizabeth Abunaw was interviewing deli manager candidates for the grocery store she would eventually open in Austin, on Chicago’s West Side.
There were boxes and equipment everywhere, everything covered in construction dust. Abunaw’s phone was ringing constantly. Her calendar was filled with meetings.
“I’m not okay. Anybody who gets into this business is not okay. I’ve never met a cheerful, happy grocer. We cuss a lot,” said the 45-year-old UChicago business school grad.
At that point, Abunaw had been on a seven-year quest to open Forty Acres Fresh Market, which will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Saturday along with a new PNC Bank branch next door.
The origin story of Forty Acres Fresh Market, 5713 W. Chicago Ave., goes like this: A plucky New York state native and former corporate saleswoman moves to Chicago to attend business school. She notices the lack of amenities and fresh food options while running an errand in Austin and decides she wants to build a grocery store there. She names her business after the unfulfilled promise made to freed slaves after the end of the Civil War. She starts out by offering produce home deliveries and doing pop-up markets.
In 2020, in partnership with nonprofit Westside Health Authority, Abunaw began the long journey of turning the site of a former Salvation Army thrift shop into the grocery store of her dreams — a place that offers fresh food in a neighborhood where many residents have to leave to get what they need.
The project didn’t break ground until late 2023, and then a nine-month construction timeline turned into nearly two years.
What’s kept her going, according to Abunaw, are sheer willpower and stubbornness — not some idealistic goal of helping a community.
“Some of us have lofty ideas, like, ‘I think this is going to be good for the community.’ ” she said. “This community is not in need of saving. I treat this community like the consumers that they are, and respect them as such,” Abunaw said. “It’s my job to position this business well, communicate our unique value proposition, and draw people in.”
She makes it clear: “I’m a businesswoman, 100 percent, through and through. I’m not a philanthropist.”
Abunaw understands that the grocery business is risky.
“You can lose your shirt in grocery. You can lose everything in grocery,” Abunaw said. “But if you do it right, there’s money to be had.”
But back in February, all she had was a long to-do list: finish hiring staff, wrap up construction, get fire extinguishers installed, get all the city inspections done, and so much more.
She said then — and she’ll still say it today — there’s no turning back: “I am so far in this I cannot get out. It’s like the mafia, like, once you are in, the only way out is for them to kill you.”
Anxiety about the future
Five months later, in the dead of summer, a grocery supplier was in the store stocking shelves with thousands of products that had arrived in a huge truck the day before.
The construction equipment was cleared away and the dust was gone, revealing a sparkling space with lots of wood and pops of color in different shades of orange and green.
But Abunaw had a lot on her mind. In the first several months of the year, the federal government had put a lot of things into motion that could affect her business.
“I’m not entering the friendliest environment for the thing that I am doing,” she said, pointing to the Trump administration’s tariffs, as well as cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
“You have an administration that loves regulating poor people but hates regulating business, and so I worry about industry mergers happening that squeeze smaller players out,” Abunaw added.
She joked that she has tried to give the store away — to the grocery supplier, to the grocery supplier’s business development manager, to just about anyone she comes across who’s worked in the sector. No dice, she said.
There are bright spots, though, like the team she has assembled since winter.
“I have a good time with the staff. There’s a good vibe with people,” she said.
As for self-care these days, Abunaw takes walks and indulges in reality TV.
“Love Island season seven, ‘Nickolandria’ has me in a vice grip,” Abunaw said, referring to a couple on the show.
A ‘welcoming’ place to shop
On a cool and crisp day in early September, Abunaw sat at a table outside the store, greeting and registering customers under a tent.
The store was in “preview mode” — open to Forty Acres’ email subscribers and other folks who registered to shop and take a sneak peek. Abunaw said the goal was to help train her staff and work out any kinks before larger crowds came to the store.
Shoppers trickled in and out while 1980s music played inside. The hot bar, which was serving rice bowls, was a popular destination.
Antonio Daniels stopped by after a work meeting to pick up lunch. He and his wife were longtime subscribers to the produce delivery service.
“It’s a beautiful space. It looks very open and welcoming,” he said. “There’s fresh food here that I really appreciate.”
Maria Sorrell, who lives a couple of blocks away, typically shops at the Jewel in Oak Park, about two miles away. She said she was glad to have another option.
“We don’t have to go outside the community,” she said. “If Jewel doesn’t want to be here, Forty Acres does.”
For Abunaw, that’s exactly the point: that people can spend their dollars at a beautiful store, right where they live.
Hopes aside, she can’t help but feel the pressure — and a sense of responsibility for her team.
“If we don’t get traffic, if we don’t sell stuff, it’s going to go bad, and you’ve wasted money,” she said. “You see all the staff that’s in there? You can’t pay people if you’re not making money.”
She’s working around the clock to get the word out about Forty Acres — that it’s finally open, and that it’s a good store, with fresh produce, nice bathrooms and an amazing house-made turkey burger patty.
“What I want people to be saying is, “Did you know the best grocery store in Chicago is on the West Side?’ ” she said. “Not, ‘Oh, look, this food desert finally has a grocery store.’ ”
Abunaw hopes customers will flock to Forty Acres long after Saturday’s ribbon-cutting because, for her, the celebration is not the end of any road.
“I cannot see any light at the end of this tunnel,” she said.
While talking to a friend the other night, Abunaw said to her, “Why did you let me do this? You’re a terrible friend.”
Friends, she said, don’t let friends open grocery stores.