Profile of Spring Run Market

Meet Devica Urwick.  With her husband, Chris, and children Aubrey and Adam, she operates Spring Run Market in Greenville, North Carolina.  Here, she talks about her experience running a buying club and farmers market and how Local Dirt helped her meet vendors’ and customers’ needs.

How did you get into the local food movement?
I’m a registered nurse, and I have a passion for eating healthy. I’ve long known that eating organic and local is good for you and the economy. But in our area of North Carolina, there were virtually no health food stores or farmers markets. My husband and I would drive an hour and a half into Raleigh just to buy organic food. By starting a buying club and farmers market, I can help people access healthy food. Since I love teaching, I’m looking forward to giving more talks and workshops around this, too.

How does your buying club work?
Our buying club members pay $25 for an annual membership. We work with eight different vendors to provide our members with better deals on locally-produced and organic meat, produce, baked goods, honey, and much more. Since we negotiate directly with farmers and other providers, our members pay a less than they would from buying from the vendor’s website or in their store. They can pre-order online, and Local Dirt helps expedite this process.

Why did you decide to expand to also offer a farmers market?
We began our buying club in December 2008. Soon, we realized that an outdoor, open-air market would help meet our customers’ needs and provide our vendors with more opportunities to sell their goods. Our farmers’ market is currently located in the Arlington Village shopping center in Greenville, North Carolina. There, we have meat, produce, baked goods, canned items, coffee, and more.

How did you find out about Local Dirt?
We heard about Local Dirt through a newsletter, the North Carolina Local Foods Action Plan.

How does Local Dirt help you run your business and meet customers’ needs?
First, Local Dirt makes ordering easy. Before, I was trying to work with emails and spreadsheets and keep track of customers’ orders for my vendors. Local Dirt really facilitates this process, and it’s far less time consuming on my end. By having a more automated system, I can focus on growing our buying club and farmers market and I can offer more classes and workshops.  In the future, I hope promote and network with local businesses, too.

Second, it helps our customers access our services. While we have a website for Spring Run Market, figuring out online purchases and transactions was overwhelming. But with Local Dirt, people can pre-order so much easier, which is essential if they’re ordering meat, but it also helps for all other kinds of produce and goods.