Markel, who is vice chairman of the Henrico County-based specialty insurer Markel Corp., said the proof of the store will not be what happens at the grand opening but how it survives and serves the community for the next five or 10 years.

“It’s still a work in progress. I feel very, very good about it,” Markel said.

Markel would not say how much he has invested in the project other than “more than I ever expected.”

“When we started, I was hoping to recruit a third party to actually run the grocery store. I wasn’t planning on creating a grocery store when this thing started three years ago, but nobody else wanted to do it,” Markel said. “Fortunately we were able to get Norm Gold to assemble a team to make it happen and a lot of support from different people in the community to help make it happen.”

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Last week vendors stocked shelves, employees put together patio furniture and were trained in processing WIC vouchers/purchases, and Gold and his leadership staff did media interviews.