This East St. Louis grocer tends an oasis of uplift in a food desert

“All right Mrs. Conrad, it’s 9 o’clock,” yells Terrence Conrad to his wife as he closes the display cooler, stocked full of fish for the day. He walks to the front door, turns the key in the lock, and the bustle begins. 

The phone rings. The door buzzes again and again as customers wander into the packed emporium, where produce and old-fashioned candy line the shelves, and oil funnels, paintbrushes, and children’s toys hang from ceiling hooks.

One young woman walks through the maze of merchandise to the counter and introduces herself: “I’m the Humphreys’ granddaughter,” she says. 

At another store, introducing yourself to the cashier is likely to generate a blank and confused stare, but the Conrads react like they’ve run