Gooh Groceries to bring healthy foods, affordable living to East Wash

Friends Jerreh Kujabi and Batch Samba plan to open Gooh Groceries on East Washington Avenue this summer, turning a former strip club into a grocery store for a part of town that’s been called a food desert due to its lack of access to healthy food options, according to a report from WMTV NBC-15. Apart from a Kwik Trip, the nearest grocery store for residents on East Washington Avenue is a Hy-Vee that is nearly a mile away.

The co-owners also plan to turn the upstairs of the store into affordable apartment units.

While the store will be a regular grocery store, it will also provide food options that will make the local West African and Hmong populations feel at home.

Construction should be finished by the spring and Gooh Groceries is slated to open by early summer.