Peas in a Pod Produce
Off for a weekend drive to local farms, the young sisters
pile into the back of their parents’ car like three peas in a pod. Mom and dad
stock up on fruits and veggies and chit chat with farmers, while the city girls
soak in the country setting and nibble from farm to farm—berries,
tomatoes, cantaloupe, apples. A bite of any of these today sends the women back
to country times as children; each season with its own delicious flavors and
memories.
Simple farm-fresh pleasures are what Susan Bailey, Karen
Dooley, and Kristan Coyle—owner-sisters of Peas in a
Pod Produce—hope to capture for themselves, their parents, and
their community. Their corner produce market, located in Glenside, Montgomery County,
Pa., opened June 15, 2007, and is founded on country memories with their
parents shopping for the best tasting fruits and vegetables available. Upon receiving
their parents’ inheritance after their mother’s passing, the sisters wanted to
do something special with the money. Susan had a vision.
“She mentioned she wanted to open a store, and I went along
with it thinking it would be a passing phase for her,” jokes Karen, a former
teacher’s aide.
“I had trouble finding good local produce in the area, I was
a nurse working nights and looking for a change, and my parents both died
before they really got to enjoy their retirement,” Susan explains. “We thought
what could we do to honor them? It all came together and snowballed into where
we are now.”
Grand Opening
Today the sisters bring Pennsylvania’s country farms to
their urban neighborhood. The store focuses on locally grown, sourcing product
from Pennsylvania farmers as much as possible. The sisters want to give to the
community what they appreciate themselves.
“I want to tell my customers where this came from, the name
of the farm, and the name of the farmer,” says Kristan, also a former nurse. “I
want to be able to say: ‘I work with this farmer, I sell his goods at my
store.”
The sisters apply the same care to picking produce for their
store as they do for their own families. Susan found their corn supplier by
driving around, spotting a corn field, and then following the field to the farmer.
Winter’s downtime has been used to refine sources and scout new products, and Kristan
mentions how the Buy Fresh, Buy Local website proved essential to making quality connections.
The market supplements produce with dry goods such as
Pennsylvania honey, maple syrup, and jelly. They also prepare fruit and vegetable
trays and make soups during winter months using their own products.
“Some are home recipes, some we find online, and some we
find digging through our cookbooks,” Karen says speaking of soups such as lemon
chicken and lentil.
Membership matters
Aside from deliciously fresh produce and savory homemade
soups, it’s an old-fashioned, personal touch that defines the Peas in a Pod
experience—from carrying packages to cars to washing fruit for customers’
immediate enjoyment to discussing the importance of locally grown products for
healthy communities.
The sisters credit PASA membership as a link to like-minded
businesses and suppliers, as a way to support Pennsylvania’s farmers, and as a
source of information they can share with patrons.
“It educates me so that I can educate my customers. People
come to us and look to us as educators,” explains Kristan, a PASA member prior
to business ownership. “They ask: why this piece of produce rather than that,
why aren’t you selling this, why does that cost more? I want to be able to
explain to them.”
Kristan notes that Pennsylvania
grown is important to their customers too. “People come into the store, and we
can have a conversation for a half hour about trying to keep it local,” she
says. “The actual type of produce isn’t as important as quality produce from
PA. That’s what people want.”
Business is blooming
Much has changed since that day last year when Susan and
Kristan found themselves on the wrap-around corner steps of an old consignment
shop thinking “this is the place” for their market. Today original, creaky, wooden
floors take neighbors around to old-time cases and benches full of Pennsylvania
produce and on past the antique hutch stocked with jellies, dressings, and
honey. Pictures of neighborhood kids with fruits and veggies taken by a local photographer
brighten the walls, and there’s a constant buzz of friendly chatter.
“We’ve gone from this itty bitty corner store to where now
people come in every other day, sometimes every day, to get their fresh produce,”
Kristan said. “We have a lot of families coming in, and we’re getting to know
our customers. We can rely on them and they can rely on us.”
Susan thinks her parents would be thrilled with what her and
her sisters have done together. “I think my dad would be here all the time,”
she laughs. “He was the one who always used to say: ‘Taste this, this is the
best you’ll ever have!’
And while the sister’s fill up at the store on memories of
childhood farm visits, perhaps they’re creating memories for Glenside’s
neighborhood kids that will instill a taste for healthy, fresh fruits and
vegetables and a sense of stewardship for their community and its local
resources.
Peas in a Pod Produce is located at 80 S. Keswick Ave.,
Glenside, PA 19038, at the intersection of Keswick & Glenside Aves. For
more information or to share sources for locally grown and produced products,
call the store at 215-887-2719. The market is open Monday through Saturday 9
a.m.–6:30 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m.–3 p.m.
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