By Nancy Smith,
Secretary, Farm to Family Naturally
We have great news at Sappington Farmers Market, and we want everyone who cares about the planet to know about it.
For the past month, the store has been under the direction of our new general manager, David Harroun. David worked his way up through the ranks at Wild Oats and was general manager of the Ladue Wild Oats store for two years. We are very excited to have him lead our store forward. David has a strong commitment to organic products and local products. He is working on his Master’s degree in Functional Ecology.
With the willing and able assistance of all our department managers, David has made the store cleaner, more shoppable and more aesthetically pleasing. In addition, there has been a tremendous effort to make the shopping process less confusing.
Departments have been reset, signage has been improved, and the managers have developed a system to simplify shopping for everyone. Sappington doesn’t want to lose a single loyal customer as we make changes, so the store will continue to carry the quality, standard products at affordable prices that neighborhood shoppers have come to expect. Facings on shelves containing these products as well as “Natural” (no hormones, antibiotics, gmos, high fructose corn syrup or chemical additives) products will remain the same as in the past to indicate that they are “GOOD” products.
For the folks who shop at Sappington to obtain the freshest possible, carefully raised local products, the shelf facings will be BURGUNDY to indicate “LOCAL” products. In addition, for those shoppers who have a strong commitment to organic products, the GREEN facings will continue to indicate “CERTIFIED ORGANIC”. Gluten-free products will continue to have ORANGE facings. Now shoppers who have been confused at the array of products in all categories can see at a glance the type of products they are shopping for. The “key” to the color coding will be very visible in the front of the store.
Spring is just around the corner, so watch for the local produce to start coming into the store. Managers have spent the winter continuing to build relationships with local growers, so we hope to have a marvelous array of freshly picked locally, sustainably and organically grown produce all season.
Sappington Farmers Market is located at 8400 Watson Road between Elm Ave. and Laclede Station Road.