Downtown Columbus's Second Grocery Is Stocked Behind Glass on Gay Street. Thanksgiving Still Runs Through Grant Avenue.

In 2019, Sherry and Rezi Bayegan took over the kitchen and catering at The Hills Market Downtown, 95 N. Grant Ave. They ran it under the name Charmy's Persian Taste. It began as a pop-up inside the market serving chicken and lamb kebabs, stews, and Persian meatballs. Over time it added sandwiches, hot foods, and grab-and-go items.

Six years later the Bayegans owned the whole store. The Hills Market Downtown, open since 2013, became Charmy's Market on March 1, 2025, after Hills Market leadership chose to put all its operations into the original Worthington Hills Market at 7860 Olentangy River Rd. Columbus Underground reported the handoff that January.

The full-scale groceries in the city's core are being built by local operators who grew from small footprints. Charmy's moved up from the kitchen to the deed. Toro Meat Market, a Columbus-based chain, is moving into Gay Street through a city program designed to put small, local businesses into empty storefronts. If you live downtown and are planning a Thanksgiving grocery run, both stores are part of the picture.

The kitchen that bought the store

When the change was announced, Sherry Bayegan told Columbus Underground what the couple wanted the market to be:

"We are committed to making Charmy's Market a go-to destination for residents, visitors, and those working in the area."

She added that they planned to carry more groceries and more international selections. In April 2026, CW Columbus covered the store's first-year celebration under the new name, with both owners in the segment.

The kitchen is still the core of the business, now under one roof with the grocery. Charmy's Persian Taste serves scratch-made kabobs, rice dishes, and stews. Online ordering runs Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. It's closed Mondays. The newest addition is Charmy's Pizza, which makes 8-, 12-, and 14-inch pies to order, plus flatbreads and salads, for dine-in, pickup, or delivery.

Every other Friday at 6 p.m., the store holds a wine tasting. Tickets cost $15 in advance or at the door, and flatbread pizzas and a shareable charcuterie board are available.

What a Thanksgiving order looks like on Grant Avenue

The first link on Charmy's homepage this month is a turkey reservation. The birds come from Bowman & Landes, are sold fresh and never frozen, and are reserved through the store's online preorder page.

Every turkey needs a $30 deposit, and you pay the rest at pickup. A boneless breast costs twice as much per pound as the free-range whole bird. In exchange, you skip the carving and buy only the amount of meat you'll actually serve.

Full holiday catering works differently. Charmy's holiday catering page says those orders go in by phone at (614) 702-7900 or by email, not online. The page lists last-order dates of December 18 for Christmas and December 29 for New Year's. If your December includes hosting, it makes sense to call while you're picking up the turkey.

Gay Street's freezers have been in place since summer

Toro Meat Market's downtown store is at 150 E. Gay St., on the ground floor of Continental Tower. The building finished its conversion from offices to apartments last year. Plans call for 11,000 square feet with produce, a full-service butcher counter, prepared foods, a bakery, household essentials, a coffee shop, and a bar. Hoodline, citing Columbus Business First, described it as only the second full-scale grocery store operating downtown.

If you walk past it often, you've probably noticed the product casings and freezers that have been visible through the glass for months. Columbus Underground reported on Oct. 15 that the store was waiting on final building and health inspections. Jenny Hauck, communications manager at Downtown Columbus Inc., told the outlet the team was "really just wrapping up with the inspection process" after a year of build-out delays. Representatives for Continental Tower and the Columbus Empowerment Corporation told the outlet the plan was a November opening. The store was first slated for fall 2025.

Toro will add different products to downtown's shelves. Columbus Underground describes the chain as locally based, with several stores on the city's north side and one on Parsons Avenue just southeast of downtown. Its stores are known for large butcher counters and an expanded selection of Latin and Hispanic foods. According to Hoodline, other Toro locations carry house-made chorizo, tortillas, specialty cheeses, and imported Mexican and Central American products.

The program behind the new storefronts

Toro is opening through the city's Ground Floor Growth program, which works with Downtown Columbus Inc. and the Columbus Empowerment Corporation. The program gives participating businesses rent support for the first three years of a lease, tapering off until they're fully independent. The City of Columbus also put money toward prepaying rent to lower the annual cost over a five-year lease, and it contracted the Columbus Empowerment Corporation to provide business advising. The program says its goal is to put small, local, minority- and women-owned businesses into empty ground-floor retail space.

You can walk the program's other storefronts in a short loop around Broad and High:

• Black Kahawa Coffee Roastery + Bar, 2 E. Broad St.
• Three Bites Bakery and Little Cat Boba, sharing 12 E. Broad St.
• Restalgic Atelier, 83 N. High St.
• Quality Wellness Performance & Coaching, 117 N. High St.

Toro started out as part of the same plan. Downtown Columbus Inc. announced it in June 2025 alongside the program's next phase, and the program page still lists 150 E. Gay St. among its upcoming businesses. So the coffee you pick up at 2 E. Broad and the chorizo planned for Gay Street come out of the same rent-support program, and Charmy's got its start as a pop-up inside a grocery store. Downtown's food scene is filling in with local businesses that started small.

When your list goes beyond what downtown carries

For big Thanksgiving lists, nearby full-size stores are a short drive away. Kroger's Brewers Yard store is at 150 W. Sycamore St., the Short North Kroger is at 1350 N. High St., and Kroger's Moler store is at 1441 Parsons Ave. Giant Eagle's Market District at Grandview Yard is at 840 W. 3rd Ave. Toro's Parsons Avenue location is closer to downtown than its north-side stores.

Inside the core, the turkey reservation is at 95 N. Grant Ave., with a $30 deposit due when you order.

Small changes on the ground floor, like a kitchen pop-up taking over its store or a long-empty space getting its last inspection, shape daily life downtown. We pay attention to them across our Columbus neighborhood guides. If you'd like to talk about what's changing on your block, or about a move in the city, Ayana Realty Group would be glad to hear from you. Contact Us.