Homegrown Food gets fresh start under new ownership

Rountree neighborhood market Homegrown Food this week launched under new ownership six months after closing.

Rob and Jackie Bailey held a soft opening for the store Monday in roughly 1,000 square feet leased for undisclosed terms from Ryan and Amanda Owen, who founded the grocery store in 2010.

Rob Bailey said he and his wife bought Homegrown Food in March from Brad Nelson, who closed the 607 S. Pickwick Ave. market in late January. Nelson bought it from the Owens in 2012.

“It’s going to be a fill-in-the-gaps corner grocery store, primarily retail,” said Bailey, who’s a retired hospital account manager for Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ).

Bailey, who lived in the Rountree neighborhood a short time as a child, said he and Jackie purchased a home in the fall down the street from Homegrown Food.

“The neighborhood’s been great,” he said. “They’re patient with us.”

Homegrown Food is known for locally grown and prepared products, with an emphasis on organic foods, from the likes of Fassnight Creek Farms and others. Bailey said he secured a liquor license for the store, as well as a restaurant license he’ll use starting this fall to sell soup and sandwiches.

The grocery store shares the building and a commercial kitchen with Butcher Plus Baker.