
5:23 PM
Thursday, July 25, 2024Moliza Dennis, proprietor of the brand new Afrocana Market, is bringing a style of West Africa to Robbinsdale.
“I’m from Liberia, so lots of the issues we’ve is surrounding West Africa,” Dennis stated of her retailer. “I additionally grew up in Ghana as properly, so we’ve lots of Ghanian merchandise, with the fufu and the … cassava and issues like that.”
The grocery retailer — situated off Bottineau Boulevard within the Robin Heart, close to the previous house of Video Universe — fills a necessity for African meals within the first-ring suburb.
“Robbinsdale I really feel like is an actual good, small, area of interest group,” Dennis stated. “After doing my analysis, I believe Robbinsdale simply match precisely the profile I used to be in search of.”
The self-proclaimed “foodie” began a grocery enterprise throughout COVID, delivering meals throughout the metro.
A good portion of her buyer base was seniors who needed to remain indoors because the pandemic flared. In line with a dedication to seniors, the shop will ship meals within the Twin Cities to anybody age 50 or older totally free.

Moliza Dennis, proprietor of Afrocana Market, provides each African specialties and grocery staples in her new retailer.
Because the pandemic waned, Dennis discovered her prospects needed a bodily retailer they may go to.
“The net is an entire totally different ball recreation, you understand?” Dennis stated. “Individuals are not seeing your face, you might be delivering meals, dropping it to the door, going. However I believe the shoppers that we’ve had been needing extra of an in-person interplay … Quite a lot of our prospects are African-based, and we like bodily issues. We like to the touch issues. And everybody prompt to have a bodily location, so that is our first official location.”
As phrase of her enterprise travels, foot site visitors will increase. And her new buyer base has been requesting particular gadgets within the retailer, starting from African specialties to grocery staples.
The freezers have room for each goat meat and pizzas. Rice is available in packages as heavy as 100 kilos.
“I’m a giant fufu fan, so we’ve lots of assortment of them,” Dennis stated. “Quite a lot of the group desires the eggs, the milk, the cheese, so we additionally carry that as properly.”
And as she settles in, she finds she prefers the bodily retailer to the web-based enterprise.
“I like in particular person greater than on-line,” she stated. “Don’t inform my nieces that, however I do, and simply speaking to folks and assembly new folks I believe I like personally.”