Alissa Floyd, standing in doorway at left, welcomes visitors for The Pantry, a roadside stand selling locally produced foods, crafts and home decor items on Route 7 north of Brookfield Center.
Alissa Floyd has created a place where she would like to shop, calling it “The Pantry.”
“The Pantry is basically a roadside stand that is comprised of local vendors,” she said. “We have all-natural soaps, baked goods; we have candles, home décor, fresh-cut flowers. It’s kind of just a mixture of all kinds of fun stuff.”
The Pantry opened May 4 at 739 Route 7 and is open daily. It’s self-serve so you leave cash in a box or scan a QR code to get to Venmo or PayPal.
The key component to what The Pantry offers is “natural.”
“I was tired of all of the terrible, toxic items that are thrown at us in all the grocery stores, and I wanted to feed my children something that was more nutritional and I wanted to wash our clothes in nontoxic things,” Floyd said.
Floyd learned to make bread and laundry detergent from Pinterest, but that’s only part of what the Pantry offers. Initial vendors include Courtney’s Cookies, Salute Natural Skincare, Sudzy Sunflower soaps, The Open Crumb baked goods and August Blooms Flower Co. Floyd’s mom, Francine McCabe, of Niles, makes home décor items, wreaths, candles and bracelets.
“I wanted to bring something different to the community,” she said. “Matt Bible across the street, who does the flowers and the produce, we were bouncing back and forth and I’m like, ‘You know what, I think it would be really cool if we had a little bit of a community of sheds going on.’”
Floyd said she hopes her customers will pop over to see what Bible has to offer and vice versa.
“I think there definitely is a shift that people are wanting more organic, all-natural items in their homes and things that they’re eating. I definitely feel like there is a need for it right now,” said Floyd,
“I just hope that we can bring something awesome to the community,” Floyd said.
Follow The Pantry on Facebook.
