Author: Deborah Haak

We want to hear from you!

As we continue to fine-tune the new grocery element of our community store, we could use your input on your shopping habits and grocery preferences. We would be so grateful if you would take 5-10 minutes to fill out our survey. As a thank you for your time, if you complete it before July 5, you’ll have a chance to win a drawing for a $100 World Fare gift card!

Here is the survey: https://forms.gle/UTSHyDiNyjjxH4Kg7

While you’re at it, we’d love it if you liked us on Facebook! It will help us become visible to more people and keep you in touch with sales, events, and new inventory.

See you at the store soon

We have new local, organic, and fair trade products coming in every week. Plus, we’re able to accept EBT payments now!

Some favorite grocery items right now include:

• Local foods: Moo-ville ice cream & dairy, Jake’s fish and meats, local maple syrup, honey, and eggs, plus produce from the Huss Project Farm
• Organic foods: Cold drinks, sugar-free candy, single frozen treats, healthy bars, chips and snacks (Barbara’s Cheese Puffs fly off the shelves!)
• Fair Trade: Women’s Bean Project soups and mixes. The Golden Cornbread mix and scone mixes are currently on sale!

Join the Buyer’s Club!

For an annual or monthly fee, Buyer’s Club members receive 15% off purchases of any items in the store, as well as the option to place bulk special orders through our primary grocery supplier, United Natural Foods, Inc., at 15% above wholesale price. UNFI has a huge stock of natural, organic, and specialty food items as well as some non-food household essentials.

In order to make participation accessible, we offer a variety of payment options:

• Annual payment of $150
• Monthly payment of $12.50
• Become a regular volunteer to waive the fee!
• No fee is charged for households receiving food assistance (contact us to sign up)

Sign up online now or in the store during your next visit! 

Announcing our NEW natural and organic grocery line!

You love the chocolate bars, the soup mixes, and the coffee, and now: we’ve expanded our grocery items! Check out our new selection of organic and natural dry goods, pantry essentials, and refrigerated and frozen foods.

We’ve wanted to increase our selection of food for a long time, while staying connected to our values of buying fair trade, supporting communities near and far, and living gently on the earth. A small group of volunteers have worked hard to make this idea a reality, so that local customers can find healthy food right here in downtown Three Rivers.

Made possible by a combination of loans and sales, we’ve added refrigerators and freezers as well as shelves to provide a wide selection of products. We’re proud to partner with a number of local farms and producers to bring their offerings to our community. In a jaunt through our store, you’ll find:

• Dairy products from Moo-ville Creamery in Nashville, Michigan: milk, ice cream, cheese, and cheese curds. Yum!
• Meat from Jake’s Country Meats: chicken, sausage, bacon, and more
• Eggs from pastured chickens at Joe’s Farm in Three Rivers
• Canned goods such as beans and soups
• Jars of salsa, tomato sauce, peanut butter, and jams
• Flour, pasta, crackers, and cereal
• Dried fruit and nuts
• Frozen vegetables, frozen pizzas, and other convenient heat-and-eat items
• Condiments: salad dressing, soy sauce, mustard…
• …and more!

Also, to help loyal customers save money, you can join our new Buyer’s Club. For a fee of $150 per year (or $12.50 per month), Buyer’s Club members will receive 15% off purchases of any items in the store, as well as the option to place special orders through our primary grocery supplier, United Natural Foods, Inc., at 15% above wholesale price. Sign up online now or sign up in the store during your next visit!

We hope to add other facets soon, such as accepting SNAP food assistance as a payment method and launching an online ordering system. Lastly, we hope that this expansion will increase the sustainability of our store, to the point that we can hire a manager to operate the day-to-day workings.

We’re very excited about this new grocery line, and we hope to see you in the store soon! Please wear a mask to shop. Our current hours are:

• Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday, 12pm-6pm
• Saturday, 10am-4pm

Announcing: A Chocolate Affair 2020!

Join us Saturday, February 8, from 2-4 p.m.

It’s time for our annual celebration of love and chocolate!

Do you love to bake or cook? Throw your hat into the ring for a chance to win a prize! You can enter online now; just remember to purchase your fair trade chocolate from World Fare for your delicacy.

Do you love to eat chocolate in all its forms? Come out to taste and vote! Voting for A Chocolate Affair will take place from 2:00-3:30 p.m. during the event. First place in People’s Choice, the top prize, will come with a $50 gift certificate for World Fare, and additional prizes will award second place, third place, Most Original and Best Presentation.

A Chocolate Affair is always a wonderfully tasty way to get ready for Valentine’s Day. See you there!

A Delightfully Chocolate-y Affair!

Six bakers competed for the prizes

World Fare had a wonderfully successful Chocolate Affair on Saturday, February 9! Six cooks entered the competition with samples for visitors to taste, and the deliciousness made it difficult to decide who to vote for! Our esteemed judges, who selected Most Original and Best Presentation, were City Commissioner Janell Hart, TRHS band director Bryan VanToll, and local handyman Gene VanDeraa. The winners were decided as follows:

• Lori Minor for First Place People’s Choice with chocolate macarons
• Allie Yost for Second Place People’s Choice and Best Presentation with chocolate and chocolate coffee macarons
• Cian Monroe for Third Place People’s Choice with pistachio slice cookies
• Becca Sonday and Vesta Thompson for Most Original with strawberry and chocolate sorbets

There was also delicious toffee with nuts and a cherry chocolate English pudding in the running! Check out the Three Rivers Commercial-News article for more details on the event: page 1 and page 2.

We are grateful to the community for the support of our mission through this fun annual event. We’ll see you next year!