Online Marketplace Brings Fresh, Local Groceries To Frederictonians

FREDERICTON— With a $6 delivery fee within city limits, Cura Marketplace is bringing fresh groceries to the people of Fredericton.

Cura’s website has a selection of dairy, meats, and vegetables, all sold by local farms around the area. To get your groceries on Saturday, you place your order before Thursday at midnight. For Tuesday delivery, you order before Sunday at midnight. If you don’t want delivery, Cura also offers curbside pickup on Saturdays.

“There has been a no more important time to support local,” said owner Josie King.

King initially set out to sell premade meal kits with local ingredients. But last April, Covid-19 caused her customers’ needs to change.

“They just need to get food delivered to them,” said King. “A lot of people didn’t want to go outside, they didn’t want to go to the grocery store, they didn’t really know what was going on.”

At the start of the pandemic, King wanted to give people a way to get their groceries safely. Contactless delivery meant an end to waiting in lines outside the grocery store or bumper to bumper drive-throughs.

“I talked to all the vendors, they loved the idea and ran from there,” said King. “It’s turned into something way greater than I could ever have imagined.”

King enlisted the help of Checker’s Delivery to get the farm’s products to customer’s doors. On Cura’s website, there is no confusion about where your food is from. Under each item, King lists the farm the food is from.

“That was important to me,” said King. “I wanted people to know that they’re supporting local.”

Initially launching with eight vendors, Cura now offers 30.

“I didn’t realize how many incredible local businesses we have,” said King

A few months in, Bee Simple became the first non-food local product to join Cura Marketplace. King began to look for Fredericton vendors outside produce.

“Word spread quick,” said King. “A lot of local businesses actually reached out to us.”

Hot sauce, shampoo bars, and non-toxic playdough were added to the list of Cura’s products. Everything is still from Canada, but now they have a few vendors from as far as Montreal and British Columbia. As their business grows, Fredericton is still home base.

“I definitely feel more connected to the local Fredericton area after this journey.”

With a 65 percent returning customer base, King thinks it’s important to talk to her shoppers about what they want from their local online seller. Their feedback informs her future goals.

“I try to get as much input as possible to what products they don’t see that they would want,” said King.

Currently, Cura is working on box bundles and subscriptions for customers that want their groceries ordered automatically.

“The automation would make it so they wouldn’t have to stress about missing any cut-offs,” said King.

On top of this, Cura is working on shipping Canada wide within 2021. King plans to provide a place for local vendors to sell their products long after the pandemic is over.

“That is a huge opportunity for all of our Fredericton vendors,” said King. “They are obviously really excited about that as well to be able to get their products to customers across Canada.”