Grocery stores within the city of Flint have struggled in recent years, but the new store manager at Royal Fresh Market on Flint’s eastside is hoping some positive changes at the store over the past few months will help more people realize there’s a close-to-home shopping option.
Jacob Zaitona, whose family owns the Detroit-based Royal Fresh chain, took over managing the Flint location in December of 2024, and as soon as the weather improved, began making significant exterior improvements to the store. Those included redoing the parking lot and painting the exterior of the building, covering up graffiti that had been painted on the side facing Franklin Avenue.
The store includes a more inviting entrance area, including some large, bright photos of Flint that customers see right as they walk in. Zaitona also took down gates that were near the entrance that prevented shoppers from taking carts away from the store entrance. The gates had previously been installed years ago to prevent shopping cart theft, but the store’s management is focused on making the environment comfortable and welcoming to shoppers.
“Now customers can take their baskets to their cars,” Zaitona said. “It’s not major stuff, but those little things make a difference.”
The bigger changes at the store are the items available for purchase. Zaitona said they changed wholesalers to make sure they can offer fresher shelf-stable products. They also installed a new produce case and produce tables to show off the growing amount of fresh produce available there.
Zaitona said his father has owned grocery stores since before he was even born, and Zaitona was previously working in one of the family’s Detroit stores before requesting to go to the Flint location.
“I wanted to come over here (to Flint) and see if we could make some better changes for the store here,” Zaitona said.
Over the summer, Royal Fresh showed off their improvements and appreciation for customers with a grand re-opening celebration that included free food, prize giveaways, and other activities. The store has also started a customer rewards program, and Zaitona has put a lot of time into creating inviting and festive displays inside and outside the store to celebrate holidays and other occasions and just create a welcoming environment.
“A lot of shoppers are coming in now and letting us know they are seeing better differences,” Zaitona said. “They see fresher food. They also see better dates on products as well as better prices.”
The store, which has 21 employees, has a pharmacy located on-site, and in the future if the demand arises, there is space to accommodate a hot, prepared food area and a bakery. There are also smaller storefronts attached next to the grocery store portion of the building that are available for lease. Zaitona said they’ve discussed adding a laundromat in some of that space adjacent to the store in the future too.
Ultimately, other services or products available in the future will depend on customer interest, but Zaitona is hopeful for growth in the location if there proves to be a need.
“We’ve expanded in Detroit, and we could hopefully expand more in Flint someday too,” he said. “Our goal right now is to just get this store on track and make sure we bring people in and show them what we provide here.”
Shoppers can sign up for the store’s rewards program on the Royal Fresh website. There is also a Royal Fresh – Flint Facebook page that regularly shares coupons and other information about sales and promotions. Royal Fresh is on Instacart for people who order groceries online.
The store is open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sundays. It is located at 1916 Davison Road, on a famous corner in Flint – directly across from the former home of the original Angelo’s Coney Island. There are still several longtime businesses in the corridor, including Luigi’s Restaurant, Vern’s Collision, Brown and Sons Auto Parts, Big Gunz Tattoos, and Tim and Paula’s Chilly’s bar nearby. There are also active neighborhood groups in that area regularly doing cleanups and making neighborhood improvements.
The building Royal Fresh is in was formerly a Kroger, but most chain grocery stores have moved out of the city limits in Flint, making the success of ones that are still hanging on vital.
“I think it’s super important for this store to stay here,” Zaitona said. “The party stores and stores like that around here don’t offer fresh produce and meat like we are.”
Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to catch up on all of our headlines every Tuesday.
