Carele Mayer still thinks of the Harvester Market in Greenfield as Delay’s.
In fact, she still calls it Delay’s when she stops in a few days a week, and that’s probably because for more than four decades that’s what the store was called.
Mayer first came to Greenfield in 1949 when her father became the director of the Camp Union Boys Camp (now the Barbara C. Harris Camp and Conference Center) and she has been going to the market on Forest Road ever since.
She remembers when it was a small gas station and garage with a little store inside, and when the post office was in the building.
Mayer spent summers in Greenfield as a child and then decided it was the place she wanted to live in retirement. And for the last 20 years, it has been her store. She goes to one of those large grocery stores out of town, but only about once a month and just for certain items.
“I use it for all the important stuff,” Mayer said about the Harvester.
It’s where she gets all her meat, sliced cold cuts and cheeses, milk and her pint of mocha chip ice cream.
“It’s my store,” Mayer said. “And it’s got the best stuff in the area.”
And while the options and quality are a nice piece of the puzzle, what keeps Mayer going back is the people who work there, like store manager Jess Weeks. Weeks began working at Delay’s in 1999 as a part-timer when she was a student at ConVal and decided it was the place for her career. She slowly worked her way up the chain of command and now is in charge of the day-to-day operations.
Working at a small-town store means doing whatever is needed and knowing just about everybody. Weeks seems to know a lot of the people who walk through the door and will strike up a conversation with just about anyone. As the boss, Weeks does a little bit of everything. Last Tuesday, she made buffalo chicken salads, checked over the wine order list, jumped on the cash register when the line got too long, apologized to Police Chief Brian Giammarino for not having his favorite sausages and helped a customer (Mayer) find the perfect kind of snack to bring to her get-together. And that was all in the course of about an hour.
When you walk into Harvester for the first time, it exactly fits what you might think a store in a town the size of Greenfield should look like. A lot of small-town stores are on the smaller side, but Harvester is unique. The first store in the location came about in 1935, first as Clover Farm and then the Red and White brand store, according to town history. Richard Delay’s family bought the business in 1964, when it was known as the Town and Country Store. It remained in the Delay family for 44 years and they expanded it in the 1990s, running the business from the house across the street during renovations.
Current owner Peter Davenport purchased the business from Richard Delay in 2008. The next year, Davenport took out the old gas tanks and used the extra space to double the footprint of the store, turning it into the operation it is today. He added the indoor eating space, the outdoor patio and picnic tables and increased the size of just about everything. He also put solar panels on the back roof.
“It increased our groceries and produce area tremendously,” Weeks said. “You can really do everything here. Order your lunch and do your shopping while you wait.”
Every store has its niche and the reasons people keep coming back. For Mayer it’s the history and nostalgia (and the people and products). But the way Weeks sees it, there are a few things that make Harvester stand out.
At the top of the list is the food. The ice cream window, where they serve Hershey’s, is a huge hit, especially in the summer months ahead and for those camping down the street at Greenfield State Park.
“Some just want to grab their ice cream, sit outside and not even come in the store,” Weeks said.
Weeks likes the pizza, but she might be a little biased. However, she recalls the time when a gentleman new to town came in, got two pizzas and came back the same day to tell her how good they were. That reinforces her thoughts on what she views as their specialty.
The Harvester staff makes cold and hot sandwiches, using the pizza oven to cook everything. There’s a prepared meal selection, with shepherd’s pie easily outselling the rest, and the grab-and-go station is big for those who work in town and want to get something quick for lunch.
“We try to make everything in house when we can,” Weeks said. “It’s better when you can use your own stuff.”
They bake breads and rolls each day, as well as sweet treats like cookies and doughnuts.
In the last year, the Harvester has greatly expanded its craft beer selection to meet the ever-changing demand for new kinds.
The produce section does quite well, especially this time of year, and Weeks likes to have local products front and center when people walk in, with maple syrup from Francestown, Bennington and Greenfield, jelly from Antrim and dog bones and coffee from right in town.
“We have enough variety where we can please just about everybody,” Weeks said.
A lot of the staff are students who only work a few days a week during the school year but want more hours in the summer, which is just fine because having the campground less than two miles down the road always means a busy couple months.
A meat cutter works a few days a week, keeping the coolers full of in-house ground beef and all different cuts, from steaks to pork chops.
“We definitely have a little bit of everything,” Weeks said. “We’re big for a small town, but I don’t think we’re overly big.”
For Weeks, there’s something special about working at Harvester. She’s was there when it was half the size and for the end of the Delay family’s run of more than 40 years, and watched it grow into a place where people from all around come to shop.
“When Peter bought it, he almost knew he was going to expand it,” Weeks said. “And as the town has grown, I think it was necessary.”
She’ll be the first to admit she wasn’t sure if the expansion was necessary, but now she sees how much of an impact it made on their ability to serve the community.
Because the Harvester’s not just about selling beer and pizzas; the goal is to be there for the customers and give them a reason to come back.