The Link Market

How it started

The Link Market founder Dr. Jeremy Goss is passionate about food justice, hunger and health. He started The Link Market because he is tired of seeing patients have worse health outcomes because they live in communities that lack access to healthy food. As a young black man and a doctor, Goss understands better than most how people’s skin color or ZIP code can impact their health.

How it works

Goss believes low-cost food can still be high-quality, which is why The Link Market takes time to carefully select produce for its stores. Stores accept every form of payment, including EBT (electronic benefits transfer), and groceries are SNAP-eligible.

The Link Market is more than a grocery store. Its locations aim to build community through education and events to help restructure the way customers use and think about healthy food. Customers can learn more about healthy eating by participating in interactive cooking demonstrations or watching online recipe tutorials. The Link Market believes everyone should have access to tools that help make cooking with fresh foods fun and easy.

Last year the organization purchased a large mail truck from the Postal Service and uses it to offer a free grocery delivery service to seniors living in income-based housing. The Link Market also partnered with the largest federally qualified health centers in the city to develop pharmacies inside several need-based health care clinics. Now, health care providers will screen patients for food insecurity and write prescriptions for fruits and vegetables to anyone in need.

In February 2020, with help from partners at the St. Louis Housing Authority, The Link Market opened the city’s first brick-and-mortar grocery store within a government-subsidized housing project — possibly the first in the nation. The store offers fresh, affordable food to the hundreds of families living in the 512-unit compound in addition to the 5,000-plus residents in the surrounding community.