Specialty Dry-Goods Store On Pines Serving Market Once Filled By Co-Ops
Need a 25-pound bag of organic adzuki beans? How about 30 pounds of dried “Hawaiian Luau” mixed fruit, or 100 bags of tea?
The owners of A&T Specialty Foods, a dry goods store that recently opened at 16th and Pines, hope so. They think there’s purchasing power for those who wish to buy in bulk - not just for the heads of restaurant chains, but for the heads of families, too.
A&T isn’t entirely new - it operated for more than 30 years on Sullivan Road as Dasco, Inc.
Its former owners, Gary and Dennis VanHoff, sold the physical assets to former Dasco employees Andrea and Tim Martello. The brothers sold the business to take advantage of the increasing value of their Sullivan-side property.
Like Dasco, A&T will sell dry goods to wholesale customers. But, the new owners want to expand the store concept, making a bigger move into the retail realm.
“We’ll eventually give equal time to retail,” Andrea Martello said.
The business already has its share of over-the-counter customers, mostly people from rural areas who buy bulk to cut down on store trips. Martello said Dasco’s move into that type of business was gradual and unintentional, filling a gap left when co-op outlets failed.
One by one, former co-op members asked if they could buy bulk from Dasco. “Being a family-owned business, the owners let them,” Martello said.
Now, the new owners are deliberately pushing the concept. A&T’s current retail buyers already come from as far away as Montana and Oregon.
“I’d say 75 percent of our retail customers are from out of town,” Martello said.
Owners hope that bulk food will appeal to customers living in urban areas, too. The hook: Bulk is cheaper than most merchandise sold in grocery stores since there is no distributor involved. A&T buys direct from the manufacturer.
Other retail customers targeted by A&T are those allergic to preservatives. Martello said the products her store sells are usually preservative-free, because they’re milled just about a week prior to customer purchase.
She said she’s not worried about the idea not catching on. Soon, Martello plans to advertise to retail customers.
She said she has yet to advertise, but stock moves quickly nonetheless. Now, people find out about A&T mostly by word of mouth. With a little advertising, who knows? Standing amidst aisles of beans, grains, dried and canned fruit, candy, powdered drinks, nuts, seasoning and molasses, she beamed.
“Now, someone’s sister-in-law hears about it from someone’s brother who heard it from someone at work, that kind of thing,” Martello said. “People talk. They like the bargain of it all.”
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