By: Mike Rhodes—
Muncie, IN—The new Fresh Thyme Farmers Market opened at 7am today, and Muncie residents were ready and waiting as early as 11pm the night before.
The first 250 shoppers (aged 18 and older) in line on Grand Opening morning received a free bag of groceries, marking the official start of a four-day celebration with live music, kids activities, food sampling, beer tastings and more.
Greg Johnson is the Director of Operations for the Central Region. Greg said the Muncie opening of the new store was one of the better attended openings in the region.
New to the Muncie store is a smoothie bar. “The smoothie bar is a new item for us in the store and we have people staffing it from 7am to 8pm. We will also have bands performing at the market this week, Thursday through Sunday starting at 7pm.,” Greg said. “We will also have free samples and free items throughout the store.”
Shoppers check out some of the produce offerings during opening day. Photo by: Mike Rhodes
As I was interviewing Greg, all of a sudden there was some sort of commotion, and all employees began whooping-it-up at the registers.
“What’s going on there?” I asked Greg.
Greg said, “Well today only, when you hear that bell go off, every 100th customer that goes through each of our 6 lanes of registers will get their entire grocery order for free.” (Throughout the day today, May 17th only.)
Fresh Thyme has filled over 100 full/part-time positions for the Muncie store, but local residents seeking employment opportunities are encouraged to view remaining openings by visiting https://www.freshthyme.com/careers. Greg said they hope to have between 115 and 120 people onboard soon.
Star Huerta, a Muncie resident, was one of the early shoppers on opening day. “I think the store is wonderful,” she said. ” The prices are just…well you can’t beat ’em. The produce and the quality you are getting is wonderful. I can’t believe something like this finally came to Muncie.”
Todd Donati is Executive Director of the Muncie Redevelopment Commission. He said, “Muncie is very excited about having Fresh Thyme in our city. One of the big things we feel is important about Fresh Thyme is their inclusion of locally grown organic products into their store. Fresh Thyme will be great community partners with the Muncie schools, habitat communities, and our local non-profits. We are very excited to have them in Muncie.”
To learn more about the Muncie Grand Opening, visit https://www.freshthyme.com/go/muncie-in/.
About Fresh Thyme Farmers Market®
Fresh Thyme Farmers Market is a full-service specialty grocer focusing on value-priced fresh, healthy, natural and organic offerings. Fresh Thyme boasts an extensive produce department with organic, local fruits and vegetables, a natural meat department, healthy deli foods to go, bakery goods, 400 bulk food bins, dairy and frozen, health supplement products, and its own line of organic and natural private label products. Learn more at www.freshthyme.com.
