Green Grocer and Upscale Market Coming to Downtown East Lansing

After years of local discussions of the need for a grocery store downtown, East Lansing will finally see an urban green grocer opening for business soon.

Campbell’s Market Basket is set to open in early Spring 2019 at 547 E. Grand River Avenue, near MSU’s Broad Museum. According to Ken Campbell, owner and general manager, the shop “is poised to become East Lansing’s neighborhood market, sourcing the very best fresh food and grocery and bringing it all together under one roof.”

ELi was alerted to the development by a reader who lives downtown in the City Center condo complex, on M.A.C. Avenue above CVS and Omi Sushi. She noted the sign on the door announcing that the business is coming soon.

According to Campbell, the market will focus on providing “top quality produce including local and international specialty items.” He’s also looking to make the business “a must-stop shop for locally made baked goods, coffee, meats, cheeses and more.”

Customers can expect “convenient grab-and-go healthy meal options including fresh prepared sandwiches, soups, salads, fruits and vegetables.”

Campbell has set up an Instagram account and a Facebook page while he readies the space for opening. The location, shown below at the far left, is conveniently located to the Bailey neighborhood and the north-central part of MSU’s campus. It is just to the west of the East Lansing Visitors' Center.

The Center City District project will also be bringing an urban grocery as part of the small-format Target store in The Landmark building, now under construction along Grand River Avenue near MSU’s Union. That will not be open until at least summer, and that can be expected to bring more mass-market type options.

Development experts have been saying for years that for a downtown grocer to survive, housing density would have to go up. The Center City District project and The Hub, at the corner of Bogue and Grand River Avenue, will each be about a quarter-mile from the Campbell’s Market Basket location.

Center City and The Hub are expected to bring about a thousand additional residents to downtown East Lansing. The Park District project, which is now starting construction preparation at the corner of Abbot Road and Grand River Avenue, will bring hundreds more.

Lead photo by Aron Sousa showing peppers at the East Lansing Farmers’ Market.