The Good Table | written by: PAMELA DEY VOSSLER | photos by: BAMBI RIEGEL | riegelpictureworks.com
From left: Alex Palmer, assistant front end manager; Greg Palmer, owner; Nina Palmer, assistant flower shop manager; Megan Palmer Rivera, CEO; Cindy Palmer Dean, owner; Travis Dean, operations manager
That obscure item you need just once a year for the holiday recipe you’re known for? Palmer’s has it. Specialty products no one else carries? They have those too. And with their made-fresh-each-day gourmet-to-go, they have mouthwatering covered as well. At the family-owned Palmer’s Market at 264 Heights Road in Darien, you’ll find a full line of basics …and Parisian pastries handmade from scratch, best cuts of meats trimmed in store by their master butcher and his staff. They have flowers—arranged and loose, gifts for children, gifts for hostesses, gifts-for-when-you-have-no-idea-what-to-get-and-you’re-out-of-time, coolers and cutting boards, and all you might need to set a stunning table …plus the kind of vibe that holds a community together.
It’s the place you go for that “one great thing,” and do your regular shopping while you’re at it. It’s the place you go for good guaranteed. And it’s a place that greets you like a friend you’ve known all your life. No wonder more than 7,000 shoppers go there each week and count on it for all things entertaining year ‘round but especially during the holidays—for their show stopping beef or turkey wellington, turkey brined or fully cooked, things made to order, or any of their gorgeous sides, desserts and hors d’oeuvres.
“A lot of people will make a few dishes that are traditional to their family and then they use us to sub in the rest,” said Palmer’s CEO Megan Rivera, “For some, Palmer’s does the whole meal,” she continued.
Palmer’s is the corner butcher shop, a patissierie, a gourmet deli, a farmer’s market, a cheese shop, a florist, a gift store and more, all in one and folded seamlessly into the modern systems, fixtures and forward thinking that keep it growing strong.
Above: A sampling of the special seasonal items at Palmer’s, below: The Flower Shop at Palmer’s
Because what Palmer’s has, above all, is a passionate ability to fuse the best of the old with the new to create, re-create and invent yet again a grocery store as current, unique and appealing as the mix of products it sells …and they’ve been doing it for 102 years. Opened in 1921 by Rocco Palmer, Palmer’s honors its past while innovating toward its future as the fifth generation members of the family now step up to run it and look daily to improve on the legacy it’s their turn to steward.
“We always talk about how can we make Palmer’s a better place to shop and a better place to work,” explained Megan who took over as CEO earlier this year from her mom, Cindy Palmer Dean, and Greg Palmer—both members of the fourth generation of Palmers to work in the business.
Megan joined Palmer’s in 2007 after earning a Culinary Degree from the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) and receiving her Baking and Pastry Arts Degree at CIA’s St. Helena Campus where she was class valedictorian. She brought the bakery to Palmer’s, the catering business too. Cindy, one of the first women working in the supermarket industry when she joined the company in the eighties, brought the flower shop, the gift shop and expanded the deli department to include prepared foods at a time when they didn’t exist in supermarkets anywhere. Her latest ventures include the gift basket and travel/tour business.
It’s a company built on a passion for quality.
“That’s what you come to Palmer’s for …quality,” said Megan. “I always say if it’s not excellent, it shouldn’t be at Palmer’s. We want to make sure that we’re bringing in really high quality products that have been vetted by us and we want employees who love this place, who love our customers,” she continued.
Turkey Wellington from Palmer’s Gourmet-to-Go menu, sold ready to bake with a thermometer and specific cooking instructions
…and love Palmer’s and its customers they do. Many of Palmer’s 100 fulltime employees have been with the company for five, 15, 25 years and longer.
“In the supermarket industry, there’s this huge move toward how can we automate? How can we get rid of jobs? Employees are expensive and hard to keep,” said Megan. “That will never happen under me because I think that’s the piece that really makes us special. (Our employees) are the ones who make the magic happen here,” she asserted.
In addition to the staff, Megan credits the family’s small business ethos for the company’s ongoing success. For Palmer’s, it’s personal. That’s why Cindy still picks up produce for the store from local farmers.
“Because we’re family-owned, we can be agile,” said Megan. “We buy from hundreds of suppliers, which is a big difference from a lot of the big companies. They mainly buy through their big distributors,” she continued.
While Palmer’s does buy from “a couple larger distributors,” they also buy from mom and pops. “We still have people who show up in their trucks with their freshly jarred sauce in the back …and if a local farm says ‘we’ve got these amazing microgreens or tomatoes we just harvested,’ we can send our delivery driver, Larry, down the street to pick them up,” she continued.
It’s personal in the buying …and in the selling.
“I think of Palmer’s as a community gathering place,” said Cindy. “You find our seniors coming in to chat with our employees to break up a lonely day, friends gathering in the aisles, kids coming in after school. Palmer’s is also a place where you are treated like family. We are proud of the fact that we spend almost all of our advertising dollars supporting the community that supports us,” she added.
“We talked about online grocery shopping and immediately decided against it,” continued Cindy. “What makes Palmer’s so special is its people, the cool selection of specialty and local products we bring in and the highest quality in every department. It’s a personal experience, one you can’t get online, one that is becoming very rare!” she said
“Palmer’s is so much more than a supermarket,” agreed Megan.
So, whatever you’re looking for, you can be sure: Palmer’s has it.
