Local food market connecting shoppers directly to farmers

Anybody can order just about anything online today, and now that includes fresh local produce.

Thanks to Bailey’s Local Foods, a farmers market that connects people to dozens of farmers and producers throughout Waterloo Region.

Visiting the website, people can browse through more than 3000 different items to choose exactly which products they’d like to buy. Online shipping is available for residents of Kitchener, Waterloo, and Stratford for $10. Alternatively, the business offers people to pick it up themselves at the location near First United Church in Waterloo.

Orders are given to farmers and producers on Thursday nights and are then made available for pickup or shipped out for delivery the following Monday morning.

Rob Puschelberg took over the business during the pandemic, and says he “could see the value in what Bailey’s offered not only to be people be able to get clean, organic food — but also for a way for the local farmers and producers to be able to sell their products.”

While he says it’s a bit early in the season to tell, he mentioned he’s seen a slight boost in sales this year, likely due to the “Buy Canadian” movement spurred on by the trade war with the U.S.