Lansing Market is an independent locally owned market.  But Store Manager Sandro Mironti is on a quest to bring deeper meaning to the concept of a local market.  The store carries products from 30 businesses within an hour's drive of Lansing, and is continuously looking for more quality products made by local vendors.

"We're locally owned," Mironti says.  "We service our local customers.  If we want to stand on a soapbox and say that we're a local grocery store, we need ot put our money where out mouth is.  We have to support the other local people in the area, who in many cases are also our customers.  For us to be able to speak up and be able to say that we need to support the local businesses in the area."

While some local products come from as far afield as Syracuse or Binghamton, others, like Sincredible Pastries, Grisamore Farms and Take Your Pick Flowers are almost literally a stone's throw from the store, only a couple of miles away.

"We deal with Hoffman Sausage, which is in Syracuse, and Lupo's Spiedies in Endicott, Commando Restaurant in Cortland," Mironti says.  "We have Little Venice Sauce from Binghamton.  They're all one day trippers.  Arbor Hill Dressings, which won many awards for New York State.  And some mainstream items like Kutik's Honey.  Whether it's in our back yard or an hour away, these are local vendors which rely on stores like us.  In some cases they are not available in big box stores.  So we have a really good partnership with them."


The store itself produces local products, including fresh baked goods created in the store, sandwiches and other items.  But Mironti says that other local products don't compete with the store-made products.

"We bake a lot of items from scratch," he explains.  "We bake everything fresh here on a daily basis.  But these items from other local vendors really don't compete with what we do internally.  Like the baked goods from Sincredible Pasteries and Assuntas Traditional Italian Cookies -- we wouldn't make those here.  In order to get that kind of quality you have to go to the people who actually make them."

Mironti says the store does not have 'Local Product' labeling on the items, but says it may be coming.  But he notes that a lot of customers recognize and look for the local products, which he says is a testament to their quality.  

"We just recently brought in The Piggery product.  If you've ever tried their product, it is phenomenal," Mironti says.  "The fact that it's a fresh product made here locally and the quality of the product... if you were to cut it next to a commercial product, whether it's their bologna or capicola or their sausage or their hot dogs, the difference is amazing.  You really don't have to tell anybody they are local.  They just sell themselves."

Mironti and his staff have developed relationships with the local vendors, who, in many cases, personally produce the products they are selling.  In many cases that doesn't mean the price is going to be much higher than that of a similar big-brand product, and the quality is often much higher in the local products.

"There's really not a huge price difference," Mironti says.  "At one time if you bought organic or something locally made or that served a specific need like gluten free items, they were priced way out of range from the everyday item.  That trend has now shifted.  Now you'll find that gluten free cookies cost a little bit more than regular cookies, but the difference is phenomenal and it fills a niche that a regular cookie doesn't.  And the price points have stabilized a bit."

He notes that unlike the larger supermarkets that have 50,000 items on their shelves Lansing Market has to be selective.

"We have to be selective, so it's really important to us to carry the right items," he says.  "People in our community recognize that.  In the summertime we have more transient customers who are on vacation or have a cottage on the lake.  They pick up local items.  They're so attracted to it because in a sense they want to get away from the commercial stuff as well.  They know the local products are more wholesome in some cases.  They know that it's better quality in some cases.  And there is the nostalgia of getting a local item right here."


If you wander around Lansing Market you will find products from local companies including Assuntas Traditional Italian Cookies, Sincredible Pastries, Eddydale Farms, Ed Fadorka Farms, Take Your Pick Flowers, grisamore Farms, Ithaca Bakery, Ithaca Coffee, Coffee Mania, Off The Cob Chips, The Piggery, Regional Access, Muranda Cheese, New Hope Mills, ithaca Beer, Trinity Valley Milk, Finger Lakes Fresh (Challenge Industries), F&T Distributors, Hillcrest Dairy, Larison Family Syrup, Lupo's, Hoffman Sausage Company, Arbor Hill Dressings, Black Creek Farms, Adirondack Bills, Kutik's Honey, Yance's Cheeses and Edwards Eggs.

"They're doing very well," Mironti says.  "We're fortunate that we live in a community that recognizes and supports it as much as we do.  In fact we have some local items that sell as well as larger commercial ones.  Muranda Cheese, for example.  It's in Waterloo.  Their product sells faster here on the high end cheese scale than some of the commercial cheeses we sell."

He adds that his goal is to continue searching for quality items, whether it's in our backyard or an hour away.

"You really do get that personal touch from the owner.  They're not huge companies selling to mass markets," he says.  "They're small companies that stand behind their products.  They want you to taste their products and do whatever it takes to help promote their product.  Just having that relationship with somebody that is a local business that is kind of in the same position we're in.  We're not a huge market.  We're an independent.  So we have a great rapport with them because we're doing the same thing."

Ultimately a store has to offer what will sell, whether it's local or not.  But local products are a way for a small independent supermarket to differentiate itself from the much larger chain stores.  Mironti says that not all communities would support that approach.

"I'm really glad that we're in an area that allows us the opportunity to carry so many local items," he says.  "It makes it more interesting for us to do business here.  It's the relationships that you build with the owners who come in and tell you all about it.  They know exactly what they are telling you because they're the ones that make the product.  That gives it a personality."

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