Four more years

Four years ago today, little infant Open Produce opened its doors for four short hours (4pm-8pm) on its first day of operation. Boy, was that a mess. Nothing was priced properly, we had very few dry goods, the store layout was ill-advised, we didn’t have a cash register…the list goes on and on. I rang up a customer for the first time in my life. At least all of the produce was fresh, as we had bought it that morning.

It’s been a wonderful, stressful, educational, challenging, and ultimately fulfilling four years. We’ve had 21 staff members come through our doors in that time, each contributing their own creative insight and leaving their mark. We’ve gone from having 5 distributors to having 45, gone from selling $600 a day to $2,700 a day. We’ve been surprised by broken fridges, electrical problems, robberies, blizzards, flooding. We’ve struggled through cash-flow problems, interpersonal disasters, government bureaucracies, and the biggest depression in 80 years. This is the first year we haven’t lost money.

Other things have stayed the same. We sold Honeycrisp apples on our first day, and we sell them today. Bananas are still 20 cents each. Our staff, no matter how hectic their job, have always maintained a level of attention to detail, dedication to their work, and customer friendliness that is commendable and truly rare in a retail environment. Other businesses in Hyde Park have extended us credit, offered us advice, and come to our rescue, time and time again. Our customers have been patient and shown us admirable good-will, even when we mess up. People still think we’re crazy for staying open so late. We still play good music.

We have a lot of plans for the next four years. Expansion to a bigger space? Coffee and sandwiches? Beer and wine? 24 hours? Flowers? Keep shopping here, tell your friends about us, keep on telling us what you want (we are listening), and let’s see where this thing goes.