The Little Shop on the Corner

Village Greengrocer in Madrid

By Robin Babb

Stella Byrne and Kate Finio, owners of Village Greengrocer. Photo by Stephanie Cameron.

The old coal mining town of Madrid, sitting roughly halfway between Albuquerque and Santa Fe on the scenic Turquoise Trail, has attracted road-trippers and urban expats for decades. It’s gained something of a reputation as an arts colony, with public art installations, an independent print shop, and plenty of galleries selling the work of local and international artists. On any given weekend, you can park in Madrid and stroll down the quarter-mile main drag, where you can get a coffee at Java Junction, take in the art, catch some live music at the Mine Shaft Tavern, and come home with a unique piece of silver jewelry from one of the many boutique-y little shops. On your drive back, you can tune in to KMRD 96.9 FM, the commercial-free community radio station that plays a truly eclectic blend, DJed by volunteers.

Left: Produce rotates seasonally at the store, photo courtesy of Village Greengrocer. Right: Local granola, flour, and beans fill the shelves, photo by Stephanie Cameron.

Thanks to Village Greengrocer, located in the town’s Gypsy Plaza shopping center, you can also buy local produce and pantry staples. The shop, though quite small, makes an oversize difference to a town where the closest grocery store in any direction is at least a half-hour drive, making fresh vegetables hard to come by. For Stella Byrne and Kate Finio, opening Village Greengrocer felt like the obvious answer to a need that had gone unmet in the community for far too long.

“The concept was born during early COVID-19 pandemic times when going out into the world, even to the grocery store, was pretty scary,” says Finio. “Limited access to groceries, especially fresh produce, has been a challenge in this area far before 2020, but it was highlighted even more at that time.” At first, they were operating on more of a CSA model—bulk food distribution, connecting local farmers and producers with the community—but in early 2021, once the opportunity arose to rent the little space right beside NM 14, they jumped at the chance to make it a more permanent establishment.

Byrne and Finio, who initially met while working in food service, know intimately how limited access to good food can make it hard to live in rural New Mexico. With only a couple of restaurants in town and limited open hours between them, residents of Madrid often don’t have an option besides cooking at home. The store’s primary customer base is the “residents of Madrid and the surrounding rural communities of Cerrillos, Lone Butte, San Marcos, Golden, San Antonito,” says Finio. “As members of the community we serve, Stella and I started Village Greengrocer as a truly community-minded business, existing to meet the needs of our neighbors.”

Meeting those needs, the two women knew, meant providing fresh food and everyday ingredients for dinner, not just handmade novelties and high-end ice cream. Their freezer full of various cuts of beef is all sourced from Trilogy Beef Community, a network of family and tribal ranchers based in Moriarty, and most of their dairy comes from Tucumcari Mountain Cheese Factory. They source flour and cornmeal from Valencia Flour Mill, their beans come from Ness Farms in Estancia, and their chile powder comes from Chimayó. Some locally produced staples and specialty items are available too, such as honey, tortillas, pickles, fermented foods, granola, and several drinks, including New Mexico Ferments kombucha and Bluefly Farms Sparkling Water.

Reusable grocery bag, photo courtesy of Village Greengrocer.

Although not every single product in the store is locally made—they have a few national-brand dairy products—the selection seems intended to find the balance between steadfastly local and truly practical and serviceable for their customers. As Finio puts it, “We started out carrying only local products but have expanded beyond that to add other grocery staples that aren’t otherwise available in our immediate area.” They also stock beauty and bath products made at Santa Fe’s Eastside Remedios and The Lotus in Madrid.

As part of their commitment to the community, Village Greengrocer ensures that all the produce they sell is eligible for Double Up Food Bucks, the SNAP program that provides double the dollars for locally grown fruits and vegetables. When I visited in early spring, two of the fridges were packed full of different fresh greens, herbs, and radishes, most of which come from either La Capilla Hops Farm in La Cienega or Reunity Resources in Santa Fe. Double Up also applies to the plant starts that the grocery sells in the spring—when I visited in March, they had onion, sorrel, catnip, and a couple of kale varieties available.

But even beyond their Double Up status, they have remarkably reasonable prices for a middle-of-the-desert local grocer. I was pleasantly surprised to walk away with fresh mustard greens, a pound of blue cornmeal, a half pound of ground beef, hollyhock seeds, and two pounds of pinto beans—all locally produced—for $30.

In April, Village Greengrocer made a big update to their store: they knocked down the wall separating them from Mad Thrifty, the thrift store behind them, merging the two businesses’ storefronts and giving each of them more shelf space. They are “sharing resources with this other important community project,” Finio says, “and looking forward to seeing what it brings.”

For locals of Madrid and the surrounding towns, I can’t help but think Village Greengrocer is a true gift. For visitors like myself, I admit it’s a pretty idyllic spot—one that makes me daydream of farm-fresh eggs, slow mornings in a mountain town, and getting out of the city for a little while.

3 Firehouse Lane, Madrid, 505-375-4196, instagram.com/villagegreengro