Variety pack

The Locavore Variety Store (Greenwich Village)

GOODS & SERVICES • FOUND Shop

The Locavore Variety Store was opened last summer by small-business champion Caroline Weaver, who spent the pandemic trekking across all five boroughs on foot to create a digital directory of every independent business in New York City.

This shop is not like the other shoppy shops (where the same Instagram-friendly CPG darlings are found over and over again). Weaver stocks her store with a variety of goods made within 100 miles of NYC, from Queens-made body scrubs and Phoenicia Diner pancake mix to deadstock 1980s NYC souvenir trays and liquid soap expressly for cutting through pasta sauce.

There’s a feeling of community, too, in this Greenwich Village general store. Shoppers are greeted by an old-fashioned info board featuring dating classifieds, job listings for leather artisans, and the like. It’s not uncommon for local purveyors to walk into the shop and pitch their products, a shop employee tells me. Such was the case with peanut butter from Pierre’s Spicy, now a fixture on the shelves. Don’t leave without taking a free copy of the Locavore’s grocery store-style ad circular, as well as a loose pickle ($1 per) from the shop’s massive barrel. –Jessica Sulima

→ Shop: The Locavore Variety Store (Greenwich Village) • 434 6th Ave • Daily 10a-7p.