Farmers markets, grocery stores, hardware stores, indie book stores and other local spots are among our favorite places to go souvenir shopping when we're on the road in the Midwest.
Here's another edition of Midwest Market Basket feature about some of our favorite Midwest products, shopping discoveries and where to find them.
Today's featured shopping spot is, appropriately enough, The Market Basket in Beulah, Michigan
We always make time to stop here before we head home from visiting the Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore and Traverse City so we can take a little taste of northwestern Michigan home with us.
Better yet, what used to be a seasonal market years ago is now a great place to shop year round!
Tim and I stopped by the store a couple of weeks ago to stock up on things like my favorite little house-made carrot cake breads, cherry bread, big buttermilk biscuits and cranberry granola as we chatted with owner Cindy Frieswyk about the history of the store and what's new at The Market Basket these days.
We always love shopping for produce at the store during summers and fall harvest seasons. Our Market Basket haul from last September included the biscuits and carrot cakes, as well as fresh Zestar apples, dried green apple bits and a jar of locally-made asparagus salsa.
But we've also found plenty of locally produced food products, house made baked goods and homemade soup during the year's coldest months (they had a pot of chicken tortilla soup going at the store on the day we visited), making it a great stop for us any time of the year.
Check out the market's selection of locally grown and produced items like Higher Grounds coffee, Cherry Republic jams and jellies, house-brand relishes and pickles (next trip, I'm going to have to try the market's Million Dollar Pickles!) and an amazing array of dried fruit and vegetable pieces that I like using in cooking (apple bits in oatmeal!) or as snacks.
Many long-time residents and visitors may remember the store as a produce market named LaGuire's before it became The Market Basket several decades ago.
The Frieswyks, Cindy and her husband David, purchased the business 7 or 8 years ago. The couple continues to carry many customer favorites while continually expanding their local product lines and offerings to include things like the wintertime soups, flowers and locally grown and grass-fed meats.
Can't visit The Market Basket in person?
Don't worry...Cindy told us they hope to complete the process of launching a Web site soon where customers can shop and order many of the store's bulk food, baked goods and other local products online.
Meanwhile, you can check out The Market Basket Facebook page or call the store to have some of your favorite items shipped to you!
© Dominique King 2015 All rights reserved
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