Author: Alex Yates
A farmers market is a great place to support local businesses, but it’s not the best place if you happen to enjoy sleeping in. If you’re tired of missing out on local produce from nearby farms, Local Source Market & Grocery on 15th Ave. offers a sustainable approach to food shopping while still letting you enjoy your Saturday slumber.
Local Source is located in Five Points by UAB freshman-favorite dance spot Zydeco. There’s a multi-colored bike rack between the store’s two entrances, and the inside is decorated with plant life and produce elegantly displayed on tiered tables.
Local Source quietly started 13 months ago and has steadily grown in size as they have found more local vendors and became more aware of what was available. Local Source supplies a range of pantry staples like oil and grits to the local season’s ripest veggies. They also sell art and pottery.
Hunter Huckabay, an employee at Local Source, said that a growing number of patrons choose the cozy atmosphere of Local Source over a big-box store.
“We get people from all walks of life, just super cool people… Everyone is just super kind. We treat you as a friend, not just a customer,” said Huckabay.
The grocery store may be small, but it’s begun to create a community of patrons concerned for one another. The kindness and generosity of the staff are matched equally by their customers’ dedication to supporting local communities.
“We’re really happy to provide good, nutritious, small-farm Alabama produce and meats to this community,” said co-owner John Parker. “We’re really happy to help the neighborhood and farmers from Alabama, too.”
For those looking to encourage sustainability in their lifestyles, Local Source is a great way to accomplish that. Local Source promotes sustainability by only bringing in vendors from Alabama and the Southeast. This helps keeps their carbon footprint low and directly supports local economies.
“We have several [vendors]. If you go to the Pepper Place farmers’ market on a Saturday morning, most of those people are represented here. It’s just a seven-day-a-week opportunity to buy their products,” said manager Holly Ham, who has worked at Local Source since April.
Local Source helps connect farmers to customers who aren’t able to attend an early Saturday farmers market due to time or crowding concerns. Local Source also values fostering relationships between farmers and customers.
“I got hired on as the manager because I have a farm as well, so I’m very in touch with the local farmer experience. And I also have a culinary degree, so I can talk about how to use a lot of these products as well. I just love to mess around with food,” said Ham.
Local Source connects customers with farmers through the Mountain Sun Farm Community Supported Agriculture program, which is an affordable weekly subscription service that provides customers with organic produce, as well as storage tips and recipes from Mountain Sun Farm.
Another way that Local Source promotes sustainability is by only using paper or compostable produce bags. This helps keep packaging to a minimum and reduces waste.
To encourage customers to bring their own bags, Local Source has a “Reuse for Rewards” program. Anyone who brings their own bag and makes a purchase of over $15 is eligible for a stamp. After 10 visits with a reusable bag, you become eligible for 20% off your next purchase.
Worried about what to do with your food scraps now, or even bad leftovers?
Local Source has partnered with Alabama’s first compost pick-up service, Field Culture Compost. Students can save their food scraps in an airtight container in their freezer and drop their scraps off at Local Source during business hours.
This is a great way to promote sustainability since food waste has a major impact on climate change as. nearly one third of all food in the U.S. is wasted, and decomposing organic waste releases methane — a molecule which is 25 times more more impactful than CO2 when it comes to contributing to the greenhouse effect.
Masks are not currently required at Local Source but are preferred to promote the safety of the community.
You can find Local Source Market & Grocery at 2009 15th Ave. S.
