The Market Off Main Street, located at 6241 Lincoln St in New Port Richey, is continuing the Thursday tradition of holding a Farmers Market on-site.

The market occurs Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., weather permitting, in front of the store.

“The benefit is it’s local, and it’s fresh,” said Rose Mohr., who owns the market with Jerry Kuss and Patti Leouc. “When you go to the grocery store, nothing against that, the food goes into refrigerated trucks and then stays at the grocery store refrigerated. You may not get it for weeks after it’s picked.”

The Market Off Main co-owners go almost daily to wholesale markets in Tampa, Plant City and Ruskin to purchase fresh produce from local farmers. They sell the produce in their store, use it to make quiche, soups and other lunchtime favorites and sell it at their newly established farmer’s market.

“The produce doesn’t sit here in the store,” Kuss said. “We rotate produce and what isn’t used that day we turn into one of the food banks locally and they use it to prepare their meals.”

Market Off Main has been open at Lincoln Street for just over two years, having been located previously at Massachusetts and Madison and then moving to Main Street after a fire destroyed the business, Mohr said.

This month marks the one-year anniversary of the store's farmer's market. They resurrected it in October.

"We stopped the market in the summer because of the heat," Mohr said. "There were no markets anywhere because of the heat. We'll probably stop it again this year in April."

In the past, the store only sold produce, but they have since expanded to include a deli serving homemade ice cream, soups, salads, quiche and products purchased from the vendors they do business with at the new farmers market. The building is also rented out by Susan's Shrimp.

To participate in the market, please call 727-849-49940.