Fresh produce store blossoms in South St. Pete

An area of St. Petersburg known for its lack of fresh, healthy food options now has an affordable new resource.

Your Neighborhood Produce recently opened at 132 49th St. S. in the South St. Pete Community Redevelopment Area. The market is an extension of Kelli Casto’s mission to ensure disadvantaged residents can access fresh fruits and vegetables.

Your Neighborhood Produce operates under the Saving our Seniors umbrella, a nonprofit Casto founded to provide discounted medical equipment. She launched Produce PAC (People Assisting Community), a delivery service, in March 2024 and now has a storefront that welcomes customers who rely on food assistance programs to mitigate soaring grocery bills.

“I think bringing this into a community that is often overlooked and undervalued by our society will allow them to feel appreciated,” Casto said. “I want to break the standard that eating healthy is too expensive and people can’t afford it.”

Casto called the area around South St. Pete’s Childs Park neighborhood a nutritional food desert. Your Neighborhood Produce offers about 40 fresh fruits and vegetables like tomatoes, broccoli, corn, cauliflower, collard greens, lemons, limes, oranges and pineapples.

Casto is now a certified SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) retailer. Feeding Florida provides a dollar-for-dollar match for benefits spent on eligible produce at participating markets.

For example, someone who spends $20 in SNAP assistance at Your Neighborhood Produce will receive an additional $20 credit to purchase more items. “It’s like a best-kept little secret, but more people should know about it,” Casto said.

The market also accepts Medicare Advantage plans that provide seniors with a grocery allowance. “I wanted it to be all-inclusive,” Casto said.

“I wanted to create an affordable place where anyone could come shop, and you wouldn’t know if they were utilizing government benefits or their cash,” she added. “People have come in this week that used their SNAP and thought it was such a nice, cute environment where they felt welcomed.”

Kelli Casto (with scissors), founder of Saving our Seniors, Produce PAC and now Your Neighborhood Produce, celebrated the market opening with a March 24 ribbon cutting ceremony.

Casto said easy access to affordable produce helped her lose over 100 pounds. The market is open from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday, and from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

Casto said enough vegetables to last a small family a week are about $25 at the market.

Many fresh fruits and vegetables at Your Neighborhood Produce cost roughly half of what someone would pay at a grocery store. Casto also delivers on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, and Saturday afternoons.

“We work with a produce broker who does the leg work for us,” she said of stocking the store. “We pick it up every morning and then put it out on our shelves. We try to keep it as local throughout Florida as possible.”

Casto, an occupational therapist, launched Saving our Seniors in 2016 from a one-bedroom apartment after realizing many elderly residents lacked the medical equipment needed to maintain their health and independence. She also used her personal vehicle to deliver the much-needed supplies and now has two trucks and a donated 2,500-square-foot warehouse.

In 2020, Casto began hosting free community produce markets for low-income seniors. Selling Produce PACs supported her mission to give away and deliver fresh, nutritional food.

“I still do it all,” she said. “Barely, but I still do it.”

Profits from cash and credit purchases at Your Neighborhood Produce support Saving our Seniors. Casto said many people prefer to touch and select their goods rather than purchase a predetermined box.

“I got this idea, like eight weeks ago, to start a storefront – and here I am,” she added. “I wanted to have a place where people could come and see that I’m legit.”

Casto hopes to find volunteers willing to help run the store and keep overhead low so she can pass on the savings to customers. She is also looking for corporate sponsors to offset operational costs.

Casto encourages patrons to offer feedback and make requests.“If you come to our store and there’s something you don’t like, please let us know because we want you to eat more fresh produce,” she said.

“We’re here for the community,” Casto continued. “I wanted to create an environment that was like a wellness hub for all. My goal is to have education classes here.”

Kelli Casto still delivers fruits and vegetables through Produce PAC and Your Neighborhood Produce. Photo by Mark Parker.