Valley Bounty: Williamsburg Market
Published July 27, 2024 in the Daily Hampshire Gazette
Valley Bounty: Williamsburg Market
For some people, grocery shopping is just a chore. Maybe it sometimes feels like a race to fill a cart and get out before the fluorescent lights and dizzying array of choices become overwhelming. But not all shopping experiences are like that.
Especially in western Massachusetts, there are plenty of smaller shops, stands, and markets where grocery shopping can be a much more enjoyable experience. For many, that’s because it’s more personal. The cashier remembers you. Every July you can count on them having fresh berries from that farm nearby. They may not have eleven different brands of yogurt, but they have the one you like, that you eat with those berries every morning for breakfast. And if they don’t sell your favorite local granola that you sprinkle on top, you might be able to convince them to start carrying it.
That’s one reason Steve Smith, president of Williamsburg Market, offers for why people choose to shop at businesses like his. In a world that often feels corporate and impersonal, shopping local is one way to instead feel more connected to the community you care about.
Williamsburg Market is a small, independent, full-service grocery store in Williamsburg. Most of their customers come from the Hilltowns to the west. If not for this market, many would have to drive another 20 minutes round trip to Florence to the next nearest option.
As Smith explains, “we have all the departments of a typical grocery store, including meat, dairy, frozen foods, beer and wine, a bakery and a deli, and produce – including a lot of local produce, which our customers are most interested in.”
If Goldilocks bought groceries, she might love Williamsburg Market. It’s not too big, overwhelming shoppers with dozens of long aisles and thousands of choices. It’s also not too small, forcing people to find the rest of their essentials elsewhere. The Williamsburg Market is just the right size for a one-stop shopping experience on a more human scale.
Local produce is one of the market’s biggest selling points, Smith says. “When local corn arrives in the store, we can see the traffic increase immediately.”
Today that corn is coming from Carl Szawlowski Farm in Hatfield. Fresh local blueberries from Berniche Farm in Chesterfield are another current hit, and soon E & J Scott Orchards will start supplying them with peaches, other stone fruit, and eventually apples. Open Palm Farm in Deerfield, Paddy Flat Farm in Ashfield, Four Corners Farm in Worthington, Lombrico Farm in Whately, and a handful of smaller farms also sell them produce throughout the year. Meanwhile, all the milk they sell comes from either High Lawn Farm in Lee or Our Family Farms in Leyden.
The other big draw is their meat department. Williamsburg Market employs two full-time butchers carving up cuts of meat like local beef from Kinne Brook Farm in Worthington.
“They’re working right there in front of you,” Smith explains. “You can ask to have that steak cut a little thicker, or to get just half a pound of ground beef, whatever you need.”
Recently, prepared foods like cold salads, roast chicken, and whole take-and-bake meals have also become a bigger part of what they offer. This corresponds to a trend among grocery stores of all sizes, Smith explains. With inflation hitting restaurant prices the hardest, “people don’t want to go out to eat,” he says, “but they still don’t want to cook, so prepared foods to take home are the hot thing.”
Speaking of hot things, the Williamsburg Market also has hot lunches available every weekday and pre-made and custom sandwiches every day.
All of this and more fits into a cozy 3,000 square foot store, just a little bigger than a standard tennis court. Yet despite their small size, Williamsburg Market still covers all the traditional grocery categories.
“In our store, we might only have a few of each item on the shelf, but there’s a wide selection of things at your fingertips in that compact space,” says Smith. “One reason it’s a pleasure to shop here because you don’t have to walk a mile to find everything you need.”
It’s clear from talking to him that Smith runs a tight ship. Before buying Williamsburg Market four and a half years ago, he had mostly worked for large manufacturing companies either as an engineer or overseeing operations and sales. He enjoyed much of that work, but the tension of being responsible to both shareholders on Wall Street and customers in far flung corners of the globe often left him feeling incomplete.
In many ways, Smith chose to take over Williamsburg Market for the same reasons that many customers choose to shop there. He wanted to invest in a place and community that mattered to him personally, and a daily experience that felt fulfilling rather than draining.
“I wanted to work and serve people closer to home,” he says. “I’m a resident of Williamsburg, and I’m so happy that my customers are my neighbors.”
There are undeniable differences between running an international sales team and a neighborhood grocery store, and Smith acknowledges the learning curve. Hiring, training, and managing employees takes more time than he realized, for example. The grocery business also comes with notoriously thin budget margins and a constant flood of inventory moving in and out of the store. But where others might find that nerve-wracking, Smith has a more positive take.
“Selling groceries has its ups and downs,” he says, “but compared to other industries I’ve worked in, it’s quite steady and predictable. Everyone eats, and even if no one comes in on a terrible weather day, they’ll show up soon.”
And when they do show up, the hope is they leave Williamsburg Market with some great local food and a smile on their face.
Jacob Nelson is communications coordinator for CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture). To learn more about which stores, markets and farm stands are selling local food near you, visit buylocalfood.org
