The owners of a family farm in Baltimore County have spent $2 million to open a store featuring oven-baked breads, produce, cheeses, meats and flowers as it transitions from the wholesale to the retail market.
Seven years in the making,
Richardson Farms debuted the 17,000-square-foot food market and garden shop this month at 5828 Ebenezer Rd. in White Marsh.
The farm had operated a 500-square-foot shop that it soon outgrew, says John Richardson, one of the farm's owners.
"We were getting more products from local people and we ran out of room," he says.
Co-owner Les Richardson says the family wanted to transition from the wholesale to the retail business because the prices in the wholesale industry fluctuate a lot more, making it more difficult to predict sales.
"Retailers don't vary their prices as much," he says.
Producers can also make more money by selling items directly to the consumers, rather than to a middleman, Les Richardson says.
"Anything you can raise on the farm and sell yourself you're making a lot more money then sending it out to the wholesale market," he says.
The area is full of neighborhoods dense with housing developments, making it a good spot to attract Baltimore County residents who live in Middle River or Perry Hall, the Richardsons say. The 400-acre farm is also close to Interstate 95, making it a convenient site to attract drive-by traffic.
Designed as an Amish-style barn, the retail facility incorporates several environmentally friendly features, geothermal heating and air conditioning, efficient electric and motion sensor lighting, and a blast freezer for quickly cooling foods.
The garden center is filled with hanging flower baskets and plants which are grown onsite at the farm's five greenhouses.Rabbit meat is among the market's more unusual items.
The market employs about 20 people.
Source: John and Les Richardson, Richardson Farms
Writer: Julekha Dash