The outside of the building appears deceptively small as the car pulls into the lot. Once inside though, Horrocks Farm Market expands into a large maze of locally sourced produce and foreign wares.
Horrocks has the usual necessities one would find in a supermarket: deli, a dairy section, bread aisles, a large rotunda with various fruits. Intermixed among all these traditional foods are some distinguishing additions. Horrocks boasts its own candy section, a bar right across the way from the meat aisle, a recently built sushi station and an entire wall stocked with worldly coffee blends.
"Oh yeah, dude. I get my coffee every time," Cameryn Shepich, a comparative cultures and politics senior, said while filling his cup with a Rwanda dark roast.
Eric Straughn, an international relations senior and Shepich's housemate, was off to the side browsing the do-it-yourself peanut butter dispensers.
"I generally try to eat healthy but there's only so many times you can eat salad at the caf," Straughn said. "Living on your own and having to cook for yourself kinda means you have to be smart with what you eat. You know you can buy some chicken and rice and have a healthy meal for cheap."
Late last week, Whole Foods Market celebrated a community event in preparation for their official opening.
Though Straughn comes along with his housemates when they go to Horrocks from time to time, he's still content to shop at Meijer or other bigger name outlets. For Cameryn, however, shopping at Horrocks is a way for him to support local business and feed his culinary hobbies.
"My mom is really into cooking so she'd take me along to go shopping," Shepich said. "Then she started having me cook with her and that's when I really got into it."
Straughn and Shepich's carts were stacked with stir fry prepared meats, colorful vegetables and healthy snacks like yogurt. Even so, little plastic containers of gummy candies and ramen packets could be found scattered throughout.
For Horrocks Farmers Market, that's exactly what they're counting on.
Horrocks isn't trying to brand itself as a strictly healthy supermarket as compared to Whole Foods. Kim Horrocks, the owner, describe his company's raison d'etre - or motivation - in much simpler terms.
"What we try to do is, we don't do everything," Horrocks said. "But the things that we do, we try to do better than anybody else does 'em."
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