Inside An Amish Food Store (21 Photos)
An Amish store in Perry County, Pennsylvania happens to be up for sale right now. This is Stoney Ridge Foods, which advertises itself as selling both discount and bulk foods.
There are some nice photos showing both the exterior and interior at a site called Land and Farm. Amish stores for sale online are even less common than Amish homes. This is only the second one I’ve come across (hat tip to reader Linda for passing it along).
Perry County is in central PA northwest of Harrisburg. The store is located in the Loysville area. The Amish community is well-established, with about seven churches.
Some more shots from the exterior. Here you can see places for Amish customers to hitch their buggies.
Rear shot showing the loading bay.
By the entrance.
Good angle showing the size of the store. Bright and spacious.
In the above shot you’ll also notice three sources of lighting in this shop: gas mantle lamps, large skylights, and flourescent bulbs, likely battery-powered.
There are several fans visible throughout the building. Most are enclosed by cages. Why is that?
This one is not enclosed.
Note the mirror in the upper left. I am guessing that helps when moving product around the store for stocking, so you’re not plowing into customers coming around the corner.
Large cheese selection.
Produce.
Deli area.
The view from behind the deli counter.
This goes to the back of the store and unloading area.
Shot from the back of the store. Loading bay.
Slicer and sink.
Back up front, the register.
There appears to be a plastic barrier by the checkout counter. A recent public hygiene addition?
This store has a simple website, not too unusual for Amish businesses in more progressive communities.
If you’d like to buy it, they are asking $625,000 for the business, which sits on two acres of land.
I would guess they weren’t getting enough business, if they are selling. When I lived in PA, I used to see Amish buying their staples at the local warehouse. Not at Kroger. They seemed to just buy sugar, flour- staples only.
A good question I didn’t raise in the post – why the sale online. This might be a family moving out of the area for whatever reason, and there wasn’t a ready buyer within the community – though it’s not exactly a small settlement, in the 200-household ballpark, so it seems there should be someone interested in taking it over.
On the other hand they might have simply been seeking to maximize the amount they might get, though I would think if it were an Amish store which catered in part to the Plain local community, they’d probably prefer the new owner to continue that, and selling outside the Plain community might put that at risk.
Mirrors
When we had our local everything store, we used the mirrors to help direct customers to the right locations for products since there was usually only one person in duty. I wonder if the fans are covered in case birds fly in accidentally? It’s a pain when the get in. Bet even bigger pain if they get knocked dead in a fan.
New Owners
I am not sure how old this article is, although I do remember when the store was for sale.
However, the store was purchased by a mennonite family…and now has nice bright electric lights, new flooring and ice cold Air Conditioning!