Black Flag Building Workshop

Building Workshop

Glick Farm Store

A farm store for Ohio City Farm: a retail and CSA hub giving international newcomer families reliable food access in Cleveland's Ohio City, and a place for local producers to sell the lunches they make.

From a first sketch in late January to a store open to the public in June 2026.

Location
Cleveland, Ohio (Ohio City)
Years
2026
Status
Complete
Partner
Ohio City Farm
Store interior under exposed engineered trusses and tall clerestory windows, a neon Glick Farm Store sign above stocked retail shelving and a checkout counter.
PL. 01 The sales floor under the building's exposed engineered trusses, the Glick Farm Store sign over the aisles.

Ohio City Farm runs the Glick Farm Store as a neighborhood retail and distribution hub, part of the farm's mission to support international newcomer families through food access and agricultural engagement.

Black Flag Building Workshop designed the interior fit-out: a compact storefront asked to do several jobs at once. It sells prepared foods, refrigerated goods, pantry staples, and home-and-garden supplies. It distributes CSA shares to roughly 300 families. It gives local producers a point of sale for the lunches they make. And it hosts community programming, from cooking classes to farm tours.

The design organizes those overlapping uses within the existing building, under its exposed engineered trusses, left open and daylit. Two pass-through openings connect the prep area to the sales floor: one for CSA pickup, one for producer-made prepared foods, so each service runs on its own without crossing the other.

The store opened in June 2026 and is fully closed out.

Process

From a first sketch on trace to the store that opened in June. Three plan iterations, each marked up and judged, then two ways to run the point of sale.

  1. Hand-drawn preliminary floor plan on trace paper, black ink with red labels for produce bins, wall shelving, refrigerated and freezer units, the CSA prep area and window seating, with a scope list in the margin.

    Preliminary floor plan

    Dimensions approximate, for design intent only. The scope in the margin: point-of-sale wrap, loose dry merchandising, refrigerated and freezer units, window seating, wall art.

  2. Hand-drawn floor plan, iteration 1, black ink with red notes on the CSA counter, wall shelving on standards and window seating.

    Iteration 1

    Wall shelving, window seating and the CSA counter placed. Red notes mark what to widen, add or move.

  3. Hand-drawn floor plan, iteration 2, departments labeled in the aisles, with an extra counter and corner shelving marked in red.

    Iteration 2

    Departments named in the aisles. An extra counter at the point of sale, slat wall beside it.

  4. Hand-drawn floor plan, iteration 3, with a red list of pros and cons written beside the plan.

    Iteration 3

    Judged on the sheet. For: more display, clearer circulation, every refrigerated unit used, clear departments. Against: less room for oil and grain, and window shelving needs UV-stable products.

  5. Drafted floor plan with orange annotations: a market point of sale and CSA pickup counter, and a separate point of sale for producer prepared foods, each with its own pass-through.

    Point of sale, option 1

    Independent counters: market and CSA pickup at one, producer prepared foods at another, each with its own pass-through.

  6. Drafted floor plan with orange annotations: a single centralized counter for the market point of sale, CSA pickup and producer prepared foods, with a low partition.

    Point of sale, option 2

    One centralized counter for market, CSA pickup and producer distribution, set off by a low partition.

The service counter with a wood front and curved deli case, set against a wall carrying Ohio City Farm and RE:SOURCE Cleveland graphics and a mission statement about serving international newcomers.
PL. 02 The service counter against Ohio City Farm's mission wall. Behind it, two pass-throughs: one for CSA pickup, one for producer-made prepared foods.
A staff member in an Ohio City Farm cap helping a customer at the counter, a wall of bulk-refill dispensers behind them.
PL. 03 Open and in use: staff and shoppers at the counter, the bulk-refill wall beyond.
Retail shelving stocked with pantry and garden goods below the neon Glick Farm Store sign and gold Kitchen and Garden window lettering.
PL. 04 Retail shelving below the Glick Farm Store sign, with 'Kitchen & Garden' glazing toward Bridge Avenue.
A shopper browsing garden goods on steel-and-wood shelving along the storefront glazing, an Ohio City street and apartment building visible outside.
PL. 05 Garden goods along the storefront glazing, Ohio City beyond.

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