Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
By Cathy DeDe, Chronicle Managing Editor
Asked about it, owner Seth McEachron tells The Chronicle that, prompted by conversations about the new Market Center coming to South Street, “I heard there were some kind of uncertainties of what was going to be happening with the Market, so I kind of dived in, looking at whether or not we wanted to continue.
“To be honest with you, sales at the market have gone one direction, and expenses of attending the market have gone in the other over the years.“
“I’m not placing blame on that whatsoever,” Mr. McEachron said of the Market Center plan. “I really don’t know much about it. That’s just what got me looking into (whether the market still makes financial sense).”
He said, “Farmers markets, unfortunately, just aren’t what they were when we started doing it. We’ve always been our own worst enemy also, when it comes to farmers markets, because we’re in all the supermarkets, so we’re competing with ourselves. But I can tell you it’s much more efficient for us to deliver to stores than it is to man a Farmers Market.
“So it’s one of those things; I can probably use my labor in a more efficient, productive way doing something else.
Glens Falls Farmers Market fans will likely be pleased to know that Randy “Pickles” Cary, the face of Battenkill Creamery at the Glens Falls market every Saturday, remains busy.
“He’s actually in the plant today, changing gaskets and doing other stuff,” Mr. McEachron said Tuesday, “which is a much, much better job to get done than being at Farmers Market on Saturday.”
He said the plant, on Route 30 in Salem, is producing as much as “50,000 gallons of milk a week” and milking about 700 cows daily, on two farms.
“COVID really did a number on us for a little bit. But we survived it, no problem,” Mr. McEachron said. “A lot of our milk goes to New York City restaurants and coffee shops, and they were completely shut down there for a while. We’re back to very close, probably 95% of pre-COVID levels, which is a good place for us.”
He said New York restaurants and coffee shops prize the milk for its fat content for lattes and other specialty drinks.
“Locally, our sales, if anything increased since COVID,” said Mr. McEachron.
“Overall, we’re good. We’re not going anywhere. It’s just this particular outlet didn’t seem to make sense for us anymore. If anything, I’ve used it more as a marketing tool, hopefully get some new customers more so than a true, efficient sales outlet over the past few years.”
The Creamery celebrated its 15th anniversary in February 2023, he added. “It’s hard to believe it’s been 15 years.”
Copyright © 2024 Lone Oak Publishing Co., Inc. All Rights Reserved
