Featured Center City Business: High Street Market
- 7 hours ago
- 2 min read
Photo by Bill Horin/ArtC. Story by Rob Laymon/ArtC.
The Market & its owner, Verna Wiggins, are welcome additions to Downtown Millville. Congratulations Verna & your team!
Maybe something happens when you eat too much canned food as a kid. Maybe you grow up yearning for the freshness of ripe peppers and garden greens.
Verna Wiggins grew up in Camden, a place not well known for its fresh vegetables. Long gone were the days when local farmers floated boats full of tomatoes to the Campbell’s plant to be made into soup. That might be what’s put the fire of innovation in her soul, the dream vision of a produce market in the middle of Millville, where people can buy real food.
“I know what it feels like not to have fresh and local food around,” she says. “I know what it means to not have little bodegas on the corner that will help you live a healthful lifestyle.”
Wiggins is the proprietor of High Street Market, a produce market specializing in Jersey Fresh foods — and the sort of personal connection with customers that you often miss in the big chains. She was careful in her preparation.
Looking to start a business in town, Wiggins walked up and down High Street looking for the need that was not being met. The store that resulted now sells fresh local produce from May to December, and fresh but non-local produce during the rest of the year.
Open Monday through Friday, 11 to 5 and every third Saturday, the store advertises itself as affordable and community-focused.
“Every community deserves to have access to fresh, affordable produce,” Wiggins says. “Our mission is community-centered. That means building relationships with the people we serve and creating a welcoming space. As we grow, we want to get the community more involved.
Next up: Finding a use for the boarded-up coal bins she also owns. She says she wants to turn them into small hubs for local businesses. And if the past is any predictor, that will happen.
High St Market
517 N High St
856-885-9030
Comments