Elizabeth Abunaw Was Laid Off From Microsoft In 2018 And Found A New Purpose, Which Today Has Led To Opening A Grocery Store In Chicago
Founder Elizabeth Abunaw believes a good business should solve a problem, so she launched the Chicago grocery store Forty Acres Fresh Market, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Its inception dates back to 2016. While on a walk to get some cash, Abunaw was unsuccessful because there was no nearby bank or grocery store in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago.
“That’s when the ‘wheel started to turn’ — something that I thought would be simple, wasn’t simple. What is this?” Abunaw explained to the Chicago Tribune.
“When I live in these predominantly white areas, I can find whatever I want, but now in a Black neighborhood, I can’t? It’s just harder,” she continued.
Forty Acres Fresh Market
After being laid off from from her job at Microsoft a few months later, Abunaw discovered a new purpose inspired by her 2016 experience. This led to the launch of a fresh produce pop-up market on Jan. 20, 2018, with a mission that “every hood should be healthy.”
“We have not looked back since,” she said in a video shared on Instagram.
Fast forward to September 2025, Abunaw’s vision has expanded to Forty Acres Fresh Market, a Chicago storefront that accepts SNAP EBT and is open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. In 2024, Forty Acres received $750,000 in funding to support labor and inventory, per the Chicago Tribune.
It is reportedly the only Black woman-owned grocery store in Chicago.
“Anyone can shop at Forty Acres, but make no mistake about it, I created this store as a Black woman for a Black neighborhood,” Abunaw expressed to the outlet.
Beyond expanding access to fresh and affordable foods, the grocery store has also partnered with Food Smart, a tele-nutrition platform, to provide shoppers with nutrition guidance, recipe cards, and access to registered dietitians. It will also assist customers with questions about SNAP, as more than 360,000 Illinois residents have seen their benefits impacted under the Trump administration, the Chicago Tribune notes.
“If customers don’t have SNAP, or they don’t know if they’re eligible, they can literally just walk two feet and come to us and learn,” said Ellie Logue, Foodsmart’s director of community engagement, who managed the nutrition corner’s build-out, told the Chicago Tribune.
The grocery store is located at 5713 West Chicago Avenue Chicago, IL, 60651.
