Aug. 12—Gainesville's one-stop shop for locally sourced meats, produce, small-batch wines and other specialty grocery items is officially open for business.
As of Aug. 1, Grubs Market's shelves are stocked with foodstuffs that are hard to come by at the run-of-the-mill box store.
"We started first and foremost as a butcher shop, but we're way more than that," the market's co-owner and chief mastermind Daniel Stribling said.
Grubs Market
Where: 511 Main St. NW, Gainesville
Hours: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday-Friday; 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday
More info: grubsmarket.com
From quiche and cinnamon rolls from Grubs' resident bakery The Colored Egg to sandwiches, salads and pasta salads made in-house daily, custom cuts of beef and take-and-bake entrees, the market covers all the mealtime bases, right down to dessert, like safe-to-eat cookie dough sourced from Alumni Cookie Dough in Athens.
According to Stribling's business partner and brother-in-law Robert Turner, Grubs is "working diligently" to partner with more North Georgia farmers to add "more local flavor and flair" to the market's meat selection of chicken, beef and pork.
Right now, the offerings come from different pockets of the Southeast, including Georgia, Florida, Alabama and Kentucky.
For custom cuts, patrons can count on butcher Jarrett Ashley. Those who call ahead with their orders can arrive to find their meats cut, packaged and ready to go home and get on the grill. Ashley's services also span to smoked ribs and pre-marinated meats.
For folks who live life on the go, the ready-made items at Grubs pose a quick, healthy alternative to the drive-thru.
"Grab-and-go doesn't have to be fast food," Stribling said. "It can be healthy and good, with minimal effort from the consumer."
Although customers do have to get out of their car to fill their baskets with food and drink, they can expect to spend a minimal amount of time standing in line, as efficiency is also part of the Grubs clientele experience.
"If you're waiting in line for a minute, that's too long for us," Stribling said. "We try to be as quick as possible."
Grubs' proximity to Solis Gainesville and the downtown square garnering a good deal of foot traffic, but the market has been a popular destination for folks traveling from as far as Atlanta, Dawsonville, Commerce, Athens and north of Lumpkin County to see what all the fuss is about.
"To hear people say, 'We've been waiting for this, this is exactly what Gainesville's wanted,' that's really made (Stribling) and I feel resolved a little bit," Turner said. "You start a business and you're always wondering, 'Is it going to work?' The amount of support and the amount of people that are coming from Gainesville proper has been incredible, but also the amount of people coming from all these other counties around us to check us out, has been incredible. It's not surprising that the community's supporting us, but it's surprising that it's not just our micro community; it's the entire Northeast (Georgia) region."