Longtime Hall County grocery store J&J Foods on Limestone Parkway has rebranded the store and is now The Market on Limestone; the first of its kind in Northeast Georgia. The Market will now feature organics, locally grown foods, gluten-free options, meals-to-go and more.

The ribbon cutting for the new store will be at 3:30 p.m. on May 31 and is open to the public. The Market on Limestone is located at 2500 Limestone Parkway.

“We’ve been working this for nearly a year and changing bits and pieces along the way, lining up the rebranding project,” said Darrell Wiley, president of J&J Foods. “We call it a rebranding but it’s really a grand opening. This store is going to be focused on more natural, organic and gluten-free foods.

“We’re also adding an incredible meals-to-go or meal solutions area, where you can walk in and get restaurant quality foods that you can pick up and take home and warm or take home and cook entirely…We are becoming a ‘grocerant.'”

“Grocerant” is a trendy new term that merges grocery with restaurant. According to Steven Johnson, the Grocerant Guru, the term “grocerant” is “any retail food item that is ready-to-eat or ready to heat.”

The Market on Limestone also will feature Certified Angus Beef in the store.

“The biggest brand we have been working on is Certified Angus Beef. Certified Angus Beef is a variety of beef that we think is the best available anywhere,” Wiley said. “We started about 10 years ago selling only Black Angus Beef…it’s very good quality. One in six cows can be graded Black Angus but if you want to get USDA Choice that’s a great grade of beef but that is a one in 13 cows but if you want to get Certified Angus Beef it’s down to one in 50.

“The marbling is perfect, the flavoring…even our ground beef is Certified Angus. We are the only store in the area you can get that.”

The open house, will include sampling and tours of the store, according to Wiley.

“We have a lot of events going on during that time and a lot of sampling and tastings of all kinds,” Wiley added.

The Market, along with focusing on organics and gluten-free items, also will feature as much locally grown grocery items and produce, as possible.

“Some stores, and I won’t name any names think that local means anything east of the Mississippi but we think local is here,” Wiley said. “We buy seasonal strawberries and blueberries from Jaemor Farms, we’ve got local farmers that are producing melons and beans for us. We buy greens from South Georgia, we buy peaches from North Georgia. Our best selling honey is made right here from Berry Wright in Gainesville. We just added Sweet Acre Farms wine from Lula and LNB craft beer made right here in Hall County.

“We just started selling beer and wine last March…but we are working diligently to get those items that people want but also focusing on local. We really want to be known as Gainesville’s local store; if you want things that were made, grown and produced here we want you to come see us.”