Small Business Spotlight: Getting Lost Leads Owner of Forty Acres Fresh Market to Find Her Entrepreneurial Spirit

Liz Abunaw, MBA’14, founder of Forty Acres Fresh Market When Liz Abunaw, MBA’14, stepped off the No. 66 bus in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood six years ago, she wasn’t looking to change her life. She was looking for a bank. “I was running an errand and didn’t realize that the address for my errand was in Austin,” said the Upstate New York native and alum of The Polsky Center’s Small Business Growth Program . “I needed to get cash and I didn’t see a bank or a drugstore where I could make a small purchase and get cash back. “As I continued to look around, I quickly realized that the amenities I was used to finding in neighborhoods like the South Loop, Wicker Park and Lincoln Park were not readily accessible in this area. I started wondering, ‘Where do the people in this neighborhood shop? Where do they work? Where do they bank?’” That observation stayed with her over the years and crystallized into a business idea that became Forty Acres Fresh Market while she was shopping at a popular produce market. “I was in Stanley’s buying strawberries for a ridiculously low price and it dawned on me that something […]

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