Even before the Innisfil Farmers’ Market closed for the season, Lakeview Gardens garden centre in Lefroy had opened its own ‘farm gate’ retail outlet at 1712 Killarney Beach Rd.
The store not only sold fresh produce from Lakeview Gardens’ greenhouses – including heritage tomatoes, hot peppers and English cukes – but also local honey, the gourmet sauces and dips of Everything Maple & More, and a range of Ontario-grown produce.
Now that the Innisfil Farmers’ Market has closed for the season, the Lakeview Gardens store continues to serve the community, operating out of a greenhouse four days a week, from Wednesday to Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Rob Radcliffe admits that business is slower than at the Innisfil Farmers’ Market: they do about the same amount of sales in four days that they would do in a single day at the market.
But there are benefits to having the store located on Lakeview’s own property.
Even when sales are slow, “we’re still able to do our work,” said Radcliffe, “and there’s no set-up and takedown.”
As well, “a lot of people have been very happy we’re open,” he said – regular customers who come in, and follow the COVID-19 protocols of face masks and social distancing while picking up their produce and plants.
Lakeview Gardens was founded by Rob’s parents, Stephen and Gaynor Radcliffe. Now, during the growing season, there are three generations of Radcliffes who work at the greenhouses, as well as cousins and friends who staff the market and the store.
The Lakeview Gardens’ retail store will stay open until Dec. 19 – “as close to Christmas as we can,” says Rob – offering fresh Ontario-grown produce while it is available; greenhouse-grown herbs and vegetables; the jams, jellies and preserves made by Gaynor and Rob’s wife, Rosemarie; Innisfil Creek Honey; Everything Maple & More; and the flowers and festive urns provided by Mid Valley Gardens in the Holland Marsh.
The garden centre has always offered gardeners a selection of annuals and perennials, vegetables, herbs, garden soils and mulches, as well as its greenhouse-grown flowering baskets and planters, during the growing season, but it was COVID-19 that inspired the Radcliffes to expand their on-site retail sales into a full market store featuring fresh produce.
The pandemic has definitely made it less attractive to participate at a large number of regional farmers’ markets, and one of the market venues dropped this summer was Bradford’s Farmers' Market.
For years, Lakeview Gardens was a key participant in Bradford, and Rob Radcliffe played a role in the market’s organization and management. But the combination of pandemic and the new online format for the Bradford Farmers’ Market this year, helped Radcliffe make the decision to stay closer to home.
“We’re going to be more local,” he said, focusing on Innisfil Farmers’ Markets when they’re open, and the Lakeview Gardens retail store the rest of the time.
For more information on Lakeview Gardens, click here.
