Denton County families eligible for the federal WIC nutrition program now have a dedicated place to shop for formula, groceries and other essentials. Grocery Services North opened a WIC-only grocery store on Friday at 306 N. Loop 288 in Denton, giving local residents a counter-service option built specifically around the program's benefits.
The store, which spans more than 2,000 square feet, is designed to let women and families redeem their WIC benefits more easily under one roof, according to Community Impact. WIC, short for Women, Infants and Children, is a federally funded nutrition program that provides healthy food, nutrition education, breastfeeding support and healthcare referrals to eligible families. It operates as a counter-service setup, with fresh WIC-approved products, baby formula and other essentials available to shoppers seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The site itself carries some history for local WIC participants: the Loop 288 location previously housed a WIC clinic, the outlet reports. Grocery Services North chose that spot specifically because of its proximity to WIC clinics and because the area lacked a WIC-centric grocery store, the company said. Reina Sandoval, the company's senior district manager for the Dallas-Fort Worth area, has noted that some WIC participants may already be familiar with the Loop 288 site from its earlier use.
A Nonprofit Campus Partnership
Grocery Services North worked in partnership with Serve Denton to open the store, per the same report. Serve Denton is a nonprofit campus that houses dozens of organizations under one roof and helps partners customize spaces to fit their mission — a setup that made room for a WIC-specific grocery concept rather than a standalone commercial build.
Alex Lopez, Grocery Services North's director of store openings, has been involved in the company's broader expansion. The chain already operates WIC-only grocery stores in Fort Worth, Austin and other Texas locations, and it opened a Lewisville location in the summer. At that Lewisville store, products are kept behind counters with associates shopping on customers' behalf, according to a photo caption accompanying the Community Impact report — a model consistent with how the company has described its counter-service approach elsewhere in Texas.
The company has pitched that model as a time-saver for busy parents. At its Lubbock store, customers choose what they want from an easy-to-read board of categorized products, Grocery Services North told KCBD. The setup cuts average shopping time to around eight minutes, compared with the 30 to 45 minutes a WIC shopper might spend navigating a traditional grocery store.
A Separate Push on Maternal Mental Health
The Denton store's opening lands alongside a separate, newly funded effort inside the county's WIC program. The Denton County Commissioners Court approved a $90,774 grant for the WIC Perinatal Mental Health Navigation Project during its meeting last Tuesday, Community Impact reported. Denton County WIC was selected by the WIC Maternal Health Center to lead perinatal mental health screening across three clinic sites in the county.
The project aims to integrate validated health screenings into Denton County WIC services to support eligible participants who test positive for perinatal mental health conditions. Fabiola Vanegas said maternal mental health is essential to mothers' and families' health and well-being, adding that integrating maternal health interventions can identify health concerns earlier, strengthen referrals and support healthier pregnancies and postpartum experiences.
Denton County WIC is one of nine Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children agencies nationwide to receive this kind of maternal-health grant, and one of only two agencies in the country focused specifically on perinatal mental health, according to the Denton Record-Chronicle. Perinatal mental health screening is not currently part of the nationwide WIC service-delivery model, the paper noted, which is part of what makes Denton County's selection notable. WIC sees participating families every three months, giving staff a recurring touchpoint to connect pregnant women or new mothers showing signs of mental-health struggles to care.
Together, the new grocery store and the mental-health screening initiative reflect a broader push within Denton County's WIC program to meet families where they are — whether that means a shorter shopping trip or an earlier conversation about postpartum well-being.
