If you had told me in April that our pandemic-inspired Grocery Bag program would still be around in 6 months and that it would be growing and thriving, I would have laughed you out of the room. But we are getting really into it! I want to share with you a bit of what’s been motivating us to keep and grow this program. I hope you’ll be motivated to join in by purchasing a Grocery Bag this week.

Grocery Bags were one of the programs we whipped together out of thin air in the early pandemic days as a way to keep our team employed and busy. (You may remember us as one of the very few local businesses that stayed open continuously during the pandemic!) Darcy and I packed the first few bags and came up with a process for the team to take it over soon after. Every week since April, we’ve picked out a fresh assortment of produce to give you close to $50 worth of produce for only $40, plus recipe inspiration to make the most of your produce. We can give you killer value because everyone gets the same stuff and there’s little waste. We take advantage of our purchasing power as a restaurant, and you benefit as a customer.

Paying it forward, sharing is caring: We partnered with the Mt. Hope Community Center in our first week to support them with fresh produce twice a week, every single week. Your Grocery Bag purchase directly supports this effort. Everybody has to eat. 

We positioned the Grocery Bags as a limited-scope offering in the beginning of the pandemic, and we’re now changing our minds! We’re going to expand Grocery Bags and the whole Grocery situation at Rebelle. The feedback has been overwhelmingly encouraging on what we’ve done so far. I’m jazzed about it and I wanna get you jazzed too.

We’re getting ready to reopen soon as a bagel shop + bodega, inspired by the NYC neighborhood staple corner shops. Everything you know and love about Rebelle and our menu stays; our bodega is purely additive. We’re definitely not straying from our original vision to give you the best bagels in Rhode Island. But we have a lot of space that we pay rent on and we don’t foresee y’all packing it to the brim on a weekend for a little while longer. Let’s put it to better use!

We’ve reclaimed some of our front-of-house space and turned it from seating area to bodega space. We’ve invested in a glass-door fridge to showcase our fresh produce, milks & eggs. We’ll have shelves with our own breads that you fell in love with during the pandemic, granolas and other house-made products in addition to pantry staples. We’re starting small, and when we grow, I picture having a produce stand on the sidewalk and fresh flower bouquets from our local friends at The Floral Reserve.

I envision our neighbors stepping up to our bodega counter to order a bagged-to-order Grocery Bag (at their convenience! any time of the week!) and adding bagels, milk, eggs and whatever other staples to carry them through the week. And a bagel sandwich and coffee for breakfast while they’re at it!

The times are changing and I don’t see us going back to the way things were pre-pandemic. We can shape our future and choose what the new normal will be. As consumers, we have an opportunity to support the things we believe in with our dollars. I’ve always valued that about our Rebelle community and I’m honored that you choose us for your bagel needs.

Stop & Shop and Whole Foods are big companies betting that our inertia and desire for convenience is stronger than the will to make a change. These large companies don’t care about much more than earning their profits. Amazon invented (and patented!) one-click online shopping and now they own your local Whole Foods.

At Rebelle, we’re inviting you to support your local economy with every meal you cook at home and directly challenging you to break your old patterns that make these big companies bigger. We’ve sourced local eggs from Pat’s Pastured, local dairy from Wright’s Farm and local meats from Deep Roots Farm. And that’s only the beginning; we have more local partnerships in the works!

The Whole Foods founder has some really backwards beliefs about the diets of low-income households. He recently shared with the NYT:“Whole Foods has opened up stores in inner cities. We’ve opened up stores in poor areas. And we see the choices. It’s less about access and more about people making poor choices, mostly due to ignorance. It’s like a being an alcoholic.”  As a consumer, that’s one out-of-touch dude I don’t want to give my money to. Do you?

I know most of us don’t subscribe to these beliefs but we unconsciously support them with every purchase at WFM.

Making a change requires conscious effort. Come make a change with us!

Check out Jenna’s unbagging video to see what’s on offer this week. If you’re compelled by her (we love Jenna!) and want to get a bag, visit our website and use coupon CHANGE at checkout for $5 off your Grocery Bag. Pickups are Tuesdays and Thursdays 4-6pm. We still have pickups available for this Thursday!

Thanks for reading <3