It is a breath of fresh air for neighbors on Binghamton’s North side, as for the first time in 25 years, their dream of having a grocery store has finally become a reality. 

Walk into the doors of the Greater Good Grocery store in Binghamton and you’ll likely be greeted by General Manager Jack Seman.

What You Need To Know

  • This is the first grocery store on Binghamton's North side in 25 years

  • The store offers a wide variety of options at a low cost

  • It's open Monday through Saturday

He's the general manager of the North side's first grocery store in decades. 

While it opened for the first time a few weeks ago, it still doesn’t feel like a reality in what’s long been a food desert. 

“It’s incredible. We’ve been working on this project for over three and a half years now. Me personally, I’ve lived on the north side for about eight years now and it’s just really exciting. It’s exciting to have this in this community,” Seman said.

Living on the North side, Seman has seen the struggles of his neighbors when trying to feed their families. While the nearest grocery store may have been a short drive away, that simply isn’t a reality for most of Binghamton’s poorest neighborhood. 

“I’ve been really lucky that I have transportation and I can get out, but I can’t say that for a lot of the folks that live on the North side, and it’s just a basic necessity that they have access to that without going through too many hoops, and now they’re able to do that,” said Seman.

The grocery store offers a variety of products while focusing on healthy options to promote good health within the community. 

Seman says the grocery store is still in its infancy and is working to serve the community the best it can. This could include a wider variety of products or even different hours. He says it will continue to adapt best support the North side. 

“Our goal first and foremost is to make sure that someone living in the North side doesn’t have to leave their community to get all the groceries that they need, so right now, we’re really just listening to folks that are coming in and asking what would they like to see here at their grocery store,” said Seman.

The Greater Good Grocery store is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.