By Alyssa Schnugg

As the new expanded Chicory Market readies for its grand opening Friday at its new location in the Mid-Town Shopping Center, the Oxford Board of Aldermen approved a request on Tuesday to grant the business a brown bag consumption permit.

The permit allows customers to bring in wine, beer or liquor to a restaurant to drink while they are sitting at a table and ordering and eating food.

According to Oxford Police Chief Jeff McCutchen, who presented the permit request to the Board, Chicory Market will have an atrium seating in between two partnering businesses. “One (business) will have prepared food and another is a wine store,” he said. “So the seating will be in between them.”

McCutchen added that the business will not be serving food past 7 p.m. “I think between some of the discussions we talked about including our (city’s) alcohol ordinance and security measures, they have a pretty good plan in place,” McCutchen said.

Without any further discussion, the board approved the request unanimously.

Earlier this year, Chicory Market received a $200,000 grant from the USDA’s Healthy Food Financing Initiative that allowed the market to move from the original location off North Lamar Boulevard to the new location at Mid-Town Shopping Center. The original location closed its doors on Monday and will be opening at the new location on Friday.

In the more prominent location designed by Howorth & Associates Architects, Chicory Market will be a collaborative food space, providing a platform for other small local food businesses to share retail space, operations, marketing opportunities, and other resources.

According to its website, the owners of Chicory Market are striving to make local food more accessible for people of all income levels by creating a marketplace and helping to improve the economic viability of local agriculture and food-making.

The Market is open from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Monday through Friday; 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Saturday; and 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Sundays.