Sunday, September 18, 2016

New Retail Concept to Provide Convenient Healthy, Locally-Sourced Fast Food Along with Unique Food and Shopping Experience


From our friends at Gentle Harvest...

Store Includes Drive-Thru for Quick, Healthy Meals and Groceries

A whole new food retail concept is launching in Marshall on October 1. Gentle Harvest (located at 8372 W Main Street, Marshall, Virginia) will provide a unique food shopping experience that will include products sourced from local farms, including its own Ayrshire Farm. Products will range from certified organic and certified humane meats to grab-and-go meals, to coffee, flowers, local wines and beer, the store will have a wide array of products as well as dine-in capacity. In addition, the store will feature a convenient drive-thru where customers can pick up quick meals or groceries - all accessible via the store’s app.

The concept is the brainchild of Sandy Lerner who founded Ayrshire Farm and Hunter’s Head Tavern in Upperville and Home Farm Store in Middleburg. Gentle Harvest has taken Lerner’s Home Farm Store concept and significantly expanded on it. She got the idea more than a dozen years ago when traveling through England and noticing the great markets that were located along highways selling goods from local farms and producers.


“Gentle Harvest is a win-win for the local farms, residents and travelers along the highways,” explained Sully Callahan, who oversees management of Gentle Harvest. “In essence it’s a concept where the farm stand meets the freeway.”

A second store is underway in Winchester (120 Front Royal Pike) and scheduled to open in late October and there are plans for many more stores. “We’re planning an aggressive rollout in 2017,” said Callahan.

Gentle Harvest in Marshall is located in an iconic former bank building. It will serve not only as the flagship location for the company but also the headquarters, which will be housed upstairs in the building. There is a customer lounge on the second floor that will feature free wi-fi and a large conference room will provide space for community events. The store is conveniently located off of I-66 and has plenty of parking.