VCU news

By Brian McNeill

A grocery store will be coming soon to Virginia Commonwealth University’s Monroe Park Campus, with an expected opening date in late fall or early spring.

The store, Ram City Market, will be located at 912 W. Grace St., a 4,100-square-foot space that was formerly home to a campus Walmart that closed in July 2019.

The market will offer fresh produce, to-go coffee, made-to-order sandwiches, a variety of dry grocery items and more.

“We are excited about the addition of a small grocery store on campus as part of our dining program at VCU,” said Diane L. Reynolds, assistant vice president for business services. “Its location on Grace Street will be a convenient location for our students to purchase their grocery needs.”

The store will be operated through a partnership between Aramark and VCU Dining Services, part of VCU Business Services, and will be open to the general public. Students will be able to use their dining plans to purchase items with swipes, Dining Dollars, cash or credit.

The store’s name and logo were chosen by VCU students who participated in a survey sent on Aug. 18. In a previous survey conducted by VCUDine last spring, students expressed interest in a grocery store, with 89% saying they would be “very likely” or “likely” to shop at a smaller-scale campus grocery store with prices comparable to Kroger.

Ram City Market will be located on the ground floor of the Grace Street Center, a VCU building that opened in 2015 and also houses the Division of University Relations, the Global Education Office and the Office of Procurement Services.