URBANA — Ward 3 in Urbana has been without a grocery store for over four decades, according to Angela Bradley.
Bradley has been fighting food insecurity in Champaign-Urbana for 20 years, first as a food pantry director and now as the CEO and owner of HeartStrong Grocery.
She said the area around the intersection of Lincoln and Bradley avenues is a food desert.
“A lot of residents take two buses to get into Champaign if they need something,” Bradley said. “What do you do if you need sugar or milk or something like that? Just one thing.”
Many in the Ward 3 neighborhoods are aging, and they can have a hard time traveling so far.
“The food people eat affects their health,” she said. “And the food people can afford to eat can affect their health.”
In 2024, Bradley decided to do something about it. She worked with the city of Urbana to apply for a State of Illinois Grocery Initiative grant.
In order to be eligible for the grant, Urbana needed to pledge 25 percent of the total grant. The city agreed to pledge the $800,000 Bradley needed.
In May 2025, the state awarded Bradley $2.4 million.
Bradley said starting the grocery store will cost about $4.1 million, and she will take on what is not covered by the federal and local grants.
Urbana is also leasing a plot of land on Lincoln Avenue to Bradley for the grocery store. Last week, Bradley and city officials signed the lease and funding agreements.
“Urbana is just different,” Bradley said. “They heard the cry of the community saying that this is what we want. And they got 100% behind it.”
HeartStrong Grocery will take over the location of a former firehouse at 1407 N. Lincoln Ave. The old station will be torn down to make room for the new building and parking lot.
Bradley said the design plans will be done by February 2027.
She estimated that construction will take 10 months, and she will be able to open HeartStrong Grocery in the spring of 2028.