$6M Wells Fargo investment advances Three Sisters Market
A major corporate donation has pushed the Three Sisters Market closer to a groundbreaking and opening date. The market, an effort long-championed by west Charlotte leaders and supported by Johnson C. Smith University and UNC Charlotte, will be the first grocery store in Charlotte’s West Boulevard corridor in nearly 40 years – and the first cooperative market in the city.
Wells Fargo, among the largest banking institutions in the city, announced Tuesday, April 7, 2026, a $1.5 million grant to the West Boulevard Neighborhood Coalition. The coalition, which is building the market, hopes to begin construction by the end of the year.
[Read more here about how UNC Charlotte supports the Three Sisters Market]
The grant is part of a $6 million award to several organizations in West Charlotte that promote affordable housing, workforce development, financial literacy and food access. Predominantly Black west side neighborhoods have historically been underserved by public and private organizations.
“We are committed to supporting these communities,” said Jason Rosenberg, Wells Fargo’s head of public affairs. “It is critical that the communities have access to housing, jobs and access to fresh food. Our approach is a holistic approach.”
With the Wells Fargo donation, contributions from local and federal governments, and other private donors, nearly $9 million has been raised so far to build the co-op, about $1.5 million less than needed to begin construction. An estimated $15 million will be needed to cover construction and initial operating costs for Three Sisters Market, an adjoining community room and teaching kitchen, and a co-working space.
“It has been a journey, but we are getting there,” said Rickey Hall, a longtime neighborhood leader and board member of the West Boulevard Neighborhood Coalition, who has been involved in the push for a grocery store in the West Boulevard area since the 1980s. “I am elated about where we are and looking forward to crossing the finish line when we are doing the groundbreaking.”
The market, said general manager Janiqua Jackson, “will mean hope, freedom, legacy and resilience” in an area shunned by traditional grocery chains.
The co-op, which will be owned and governed by community members, reflects a growing momentum across the country, with predominantly Black neighborhoods mobilizing to combat disinvestment. Many residents of low-income areas live in food deserts, lacking convenient access to fresh, healthy food because traditional grocers build their stores elsewhere.
Three Sisters Market will be built near the intersection of West Boulevard and Clanton Road on property the neighborhood coalition leased from Inlivian, Charlotte’s housing authority. Its origin story spans decades and is intertwined with broken promises, neighborhood resilience, and collaboration with UNC Charlotte and Johnson C. Smith University, the city’s historically Black university.
Community support grows
Major grants awarded so far for co-op construction include $3.25 million from Mecklenburg County, $1.5 million from the City of Charlotte, and $1.5 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as a result of advocacy by 12th District Congresswoman Alma Adams. Other donations are from the Healthy Food Financing Initiative, a national organization that supports efforts to improve access to healthy food in underserved areas, Coca-Cola Consolidated and individual donors.
“My goal is for my 81-year-old mom to be able to drive a block down the street and go shopping at the grocery store, said J.Hill, an owner of a public relations agency who grew up in the West Boulevard area and serves as vice chairman of the West Boulevard Neighborhood Coalition.
Many residents along the West Boulevard corridor do not have cars and rely on public transportation. As a result, they rely on the convenience stores and gas stations, which primarily sell heavily processed foods.
Nearly 600 individuals have purchased memberships in the co-op so far, many of whom are West Boulevard residents. While anyone can purchase a membership, voting privileges are reserved for residents of the West Boulevard corridor to ensure community-led governance.
As general manager, Jackson, who has 27 years of experience in retail grocery, including launching a co-op in Rhode Island, will oversee staff hiring, product selection and supplier partnerships in the coming months. “What we want to do now is to hear from member-owners so they are able to give their input so that the store reflects the needs of the community,” she said.
“We will be escalating our community engagement,” said attorney Guy Cousins, project director for Three Sisters Market and a former resident in the West Boulevard corridor. “This is an opportunity for this community to be a leader.”
Organizers also hope the market will be a catalyst for neighborhood revitalization and development.
A nearly four-decade struggle
West Boulevard area residents began working to lure a grocery store in the 1980s, after the closing of a longtime neighborhood supermarket. When traditional grocery chains continued to show little interest in moving to the area, residents began exploring the idea of creating a food co-op. They agreed to name it Three Sisters, in honor of three prominent neighborhood activists in the West Boulevard corridor: Amay M. James, Luciel McNeel and Dorothy Waddy.
Over the years, the co-op idea began attracting support. Inlivian endorsed it in a 2018 plan, a city market assessment a year later cited a co-op as a feasible strategy, and it is listed in Charlotte Center City’s 2040 Vision Plan.
In 2020, Mecklenburg County commissioners, as part of the health department’s focus on improving food access, funded a collaborative initiative among faculty at UNC Charlotte and Johnson C. Smith and community leaders to examine the most feasible option for bringing a grocery store to the area. At the time, it was a novel relationship that ensured residents maintained a strong voice in the development of a proposal for their community.
Using UNC Charlotte resources and facilitation expertise, extensive market research, and consultations with retail grocers, the group recommended a community-owned, for-profit co-op grocery, reinforcing the idea previously proposed by residents.
The research showed that if unearned sources of income, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Women, Infants and Children, or SNAP and WIC federal food programs, were included in the residents’ purchasing power, as well as patronage from those who frequent the community but live elsewhere, a co-op would be economically feasible. Traditional grocery stores generally do not consider unearned income when deciding on new locations.
As a result of its work in the West Boulevard area, UNC Charlotte is continuing to partner with neighborhoods in the city’s Corridors of Opportunity, previously underserved areas where the city is now encouraging and financing more development.
The West Boulevard Neighborhood Coalition, which is the developer and owner of the Three Sisters Market, is the primary fundraiser. A separate market board, made up of residents and institutional representatives, operates the for-profit co-op.
“We looked at the marketplace and determined this can be a viable business,” said Byron White, a former UNC Charlotte administrator and chairman of West Boulevard Cooperative Food Market, who helped facilitate the research working group. “The board will be locked in on how we develop this business to ensure it is competitive and financially viable.
Market studies estimate the trade area includes about 33,000 residents in west and southwest Charlotte. Nearly 13,000 of those residents live along the West Boulevard corridor, which stretches from Interstate 77 to Billy Graham Parkway.
In addition to a 14,000-square-foot grocery space, Three Sisters will have an adjoining 2,000-square-foot community room and teaching kitchen, as well as a co-working space.
“My hope for the community space and teaching kitchen is that over time we will be able to influence eating habits and help influence people’s health,” said Hall.
Leaders in the West Boulevard area said they are pleased with the support from Wells Fargo and continue to seek additional corporate donations and community memberships.
“We have phenomenal momentum, said Elliott Royal, executive director of the West Boulevard Neighborhood Coalition. “This will be a pivotal community solution that is driven by the community.”