New neighborhood grocery opens in Swannanoa, restores local food access

Rite Buy Grocery quietly opens Saturday at 106 Alexander Place in Swannanoa, filling a gap left when Tropical Storm Helene damaged infrastructure and delayed the reopening of Ingles, the town’s primary supermarket. The new store occupies just less than 1,200 square feet and focuses on fresh produce, dairy, meat and pantry staples with an emphasis on locally sourced products.

The store is the result of months of community concern about growing food access challenges in the unincorporated community east of Asheville. Earlier this year Justin and Diana Rhodes took steps to open a neighborhood market after hearing repeated calls for food access at town meetings. “The calling to do this just became clearer,” Diana Rhodes said. The market aims to provide speedy access to basics for residents who have been traveling miles for groceries while Ingles remains closed and communication from the chain has been limited.

Rite Buy stocks meat from Hickory Nut Gap, Joyce Farms and Shipley Family Farms, eggs from Hendersonville, dairy from local creameries and bread from Asheville’s City Bakery. A bulk foods section is intended to offer more affordable options and the store also carries a small selection of beer and wine. Rhodes says the owners maintain close vendor relationships to respond to customer needs. “We work closely with our vendors, so we can do custom orders,” she said.

Rhodes estimates roughly 300 customers visited during the store’s opening weekend despite little advance publicity. Customers have already asked for expanded cheeses and specialty dairy items, and the owners are seeking new small scale vendors to meet demand. Hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday with limited Sunday hours.

For local households the immediate benefit is reduced travel time and lower transportation costs, particularly for residents without reliable vehicles. “It means people can get the basics without driving miles,” Rhodes said. Economically, the store creates a direct market for area farmers and small producers, keeping food dollars in the local economy while testing the viability of micro grocery formats in a community recovering from storm related disruptions. The opening also underscores policy questions for Buncombe County about supporting distributed food access and strengthening infrastructure resilience to prevent similar shortages in future storms.