Welcome to the Market

Published 11:22 pm Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Elvis Presley’s sweet voice fills the country store.

A vintage peanut roaster is shaking hot nuts – it takes exactly 28 minutes for the perfect batch – and the shelves are loaded with jellies, jams and pasta made by the Amish.

Welcome to The Market, a combination farmer’s market/antique shop/eatery on Bridge Road in Crittenden.

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Christine Treakle and her husband, Mark, opened the shop eight years ago in a circa-1928 gas station that had sat vacant for more than two decades. With original wooden plank flooring and walls lined with black-and-white photographs, The Market is a step back in time.

“It’s a relaxing atmosphere,” said Treakle, relaxing on a chair between customers. “It’s slower, you don’t feel all the hustle and bustle that going on by outside.

“Most people who come in … end up sitting down on the pew and listening to music.”

In fact, with so few people having record players at home these days, a few customers will bring their own vinyls to hear while they shop, she said.

The Market started out as a farmer’s market, with many of the fresh vegetables coming out of Christine Treakle’s garden behind the shop. The vegetables are still the mainstay – fresh corn, butterbeans and the like are available now.

Fresh apples from orchards outside Charlottesville, and pumpkins of all sizes, shapes and colors are for sale. A couple of old basinets outside the shop are holding new cargo – hundreds of the tiny orange, yellow and green gourds.

Customers can find some old-fashioned favorites inside The Market, including boiled peanuts; collards (fresh and already cooked); homemade desserts and Amish-made butter and cheddar cheese.

Even after years in the same place, the Treakles say they constantly hear people saying they rode past The Market without paying much attention.

“They think we are just a vegetable stand or an old house,” Treakle said. “People don’t have any idea how cool we really are.”