Downtown Tulsa is about to get its first full-service grocery store in more than 12 years.

Oasis Fresh Market founder and CEO AJ Johnson told 2 News Oklahoma on Aug. 22 that the locally owned grocer will open its downtown location by or before Tuesday, Sept. 1. The store will occupy roughly 14,000 square feet on the first floor of the ARCO apartment building at 119 E. 6th St., according to Tulsa Flyer reporting from March.

The opening caps 18 months of development that Johnson said was slowed by tariffs, vendor challenges and reinsurance issues. He told 2 News he's ready to move past the setbacks.

"Oasis downtown will be open by or before Labor Day!" Johnson said.

Johnson, who opened the original Oasis in north Tulsa in 2021 to address food insecurity in what had been classified as a food desert, said the downtown store will stock organic produce, organic meats and alcohol. A grab-and-go section and a production kitchen for hot meals are also planned, along with delivery through Instacart, Uber Eats and Oasis's own system.

The store will be the first in Oklahoma to carry the USDA's Add Milk program, which provides a dollar-for-dollar match for EBT cardholders toward milk purchases, Johnson said. Oasis will also participate in Double Up Oklahoma, a Hunger Free Oklahoma program that matches up to $20 per day in SNAP spending for use on fresh fruits and vegetables. Perks for Creek and Cherokee Nation tribal members and a customer rewards program offering free groceries round out the access initiatives.

Johnson said he chose downtown because of the housing investment pouring into the area. He expects to employ more than 100 people and serve over 1,000 customers daily.

The property acquisition and construction were done in partnership with Price Family Partnerships, which owns the ARCO building. Johnson has described the store as the country's first independently minority-owned grocer in a downtown metroplex.

Downtown Tulsa has lacked a full-service grocery since Folks Urban Market closed in 2014 after seven months. Before that, Homeland shuttered its downtown location in 2002. In February, Oasis held a community gathering where more than 350 people offered recommendations on what they wanted in the new store.

The downtown location joins Oasis's north Tulsa store at 1725 N. Peoria Ave. and a south Tulsa store at 6207 S. Peoria Ave. that opened earlier in August. That's three locations now.

No grand opening date or ribbon-cutting has been announced. Hours reported in March were 6 a.m. to 8 or 9 p.m. daily, though final hours have not been confirmed.