McCusker’s Market

I love McCusker’s and go there regularly for lunch. They have a great selection of sandwiches, soups, and salads — both pre-​made and made to order. You can build your own sandwich/​salad or choose from a variety of things on their menu. There’s a nice, spacious, bright area with big windows and many tables where you can have your lunch and read the paper. If it’s a nice day, you can also eat outside at a table or just by the Bridge of Flowers or glacial potholes. It’s such a beautiful town! Being vegetarian (and avoiding dairy) I sometimes have trouble finding good options, but McCusker’s has several! I’m a little addicted to the zen wrap; I find myself craving it at random times … and the veggie burger is excellent, too. They also have breakfast sandwiches, coffees (with a soy creamer option!), and teas. The store also carries several other great vegetarian/​vegan items, and lots of other really good products that you can’t easily find elsewhere. They have a small bulk foods section, as well. The prices aren’t cheap, but they’re reasonable. I should clarify, the lunch prices are very reasonable, but the other products can be a little pricey (but high quality). They do have specials, too. Healthy, organic, local food and sustainability are their mottos. The people who work there are very friendly and you can tell they really care about the store. If you’re a member, you get a small discount plus other perks like a cheap yoga class and newsletter subscription. If you’re a working member (and it’s only something like 4 hours per month), you get a much larger discount, and you can even choose what you do for work. I love it even more after hearing all this from obviously satisfied employees/​members. Happy people making my food means more nourishment and happiness for me!

The staff are extremely friendly and really care about McCusker’s. They are usually extremely understaffed because during the summer (tourist season) it gets very busy and for some reason they won’t hire anyone else. Maybe instead of complaining about slow service on Unilocal in a passive-​aggressive way, send an email to the management at the coop, which would be way more productive. If someone seems like they’re being rude at the deli, keep in mind they’ve probably been there alone all day with a line out the door. If you don’t get your sandwich immediately, think about what it means to be alone making 20 sandwiches for entitled, cranky, hungry tourists…
Now that I’ve got that out of the way… McCusker’s Market is a quaint staple in the area and a great place to have coffee or lunch, or pick up a sandwich to go and enjoy on the river. The prices for grocery shopping are a bit high, but with a member discount they come down a bit.

Came for a late lunch on a Monday. First you notice that everything is organic and earthy crunchy. Appropriately, the men that work there have mustaches and horrible facial hair. Hipster, as they should be.
So, as far as the food goes, we stopped in because we thought it’d be healthy and it smelled strongly of an excellent BBQ sauce. So we stood in line, which took FOREVER. It could’ve been more efficient, but they didn’t seem to care about that. The lady taking the orders was rude to a guy in front of me, which really annoyed me as she was taking forever in general and didn’t seem to know what she was doing. Their ordering system is circling the meat, bread type, and veggies for the food items ordered — she had no idea what each sandwich was supposed to come with. She argued with me about my sandwich having blue cheese until I pointed it out and she said «oh, so it does».
Anyway, after all that, they made my BBQ chicken salad as a sandwich. When I pointed it out, they basically took the ingredients and threw them in a salad box, no mixing or anything. A bunch of lettuce with a clump of cheese in one corner, half a tomato sliced next to half an onion sliced next to half a chicken breast sliced. Nothing mixed. Took her about 2 seconds. And it was seriously only like ½ a chicken breast.
After all that, I have to admit that the ingredients were of excellent quality and after I turned my box of ingredients into a salad, I quite enjoyed it. But Mc Cusker’s did everything they could to make sure that didn’t happen. However, I overcame all odds.
That’s it. I also bought lime juice, which was excellent.

I like McCusker’s. For a tiny little store, it does a lot. First, the people who work there are great. Certain foods can be a little pricey, but they have a good number of local products (yogurt, cider, cheese, ice cream, syrup, honey, produce, etc). There is always great soup. Get some soup, go outside, sit at a table, and watch the river go by. Sometime’s there’s even someone outside playing an instrument. Good if you want to pick up some lunch or breakfast.
Lately not to be missed is the lunch theatre that is McCusker’s indoor eating area. It has an OK Internet connection and draws a cast of characters with their laptops as well as people stopping for lunch.
On Thursday a gentleman was lamenting to his friends about his biggest business upset. «I met the guy who invented the Internet.» (I’m thinking: «He met Al Gore???», but turned out it was some other guy). «My business partner had no vision, so we turned the guy down. I could have been a billionaire by now.» (So I’m kinda thankful at this point because if these guys had anything to do with running the Internet, it would be run today over two tin cans connected by a string.)
This afternoon there was a teenager in there. He brought both of his computers and managed to use all of the electrical outlets. When lunchtime came, he walked over to McMusker’s and bought an entire quart (that’s 32 ounces) of soy ice cream, which he ate. At a certain level I kind of admire his lack of culinary restraint. His confusion began when he had to throw the empty carton away because McMusker’s does something with trash that I greatly admire: they make you sort it between cans and bottles, compost (food, paper, cardboard), and landfill.
So he stood there — astonished — contemplating the choices: cans and bottles, compost (food, paper, CARDBOARD), and landfill, moving the empty carton over each bin as he considered the options. Again, he thought it over: cans and bottles, compost (food, paper, CARDBOARD!!!), and landfill. So he shoved it in the opening for cans and bottles.

I really like this market. This is the second location for the Greenfields Co-​op Market (the main store is in Greenfield). It’s located on the Buckland side of Shelburne Falls; just over the bridge next to Mo’s Fudge Factory.
Pros:
— Great produce, though sometimes limited due to space and season.
— Good selection of organic/​natural/​healthy foods
— Very good selection of cheeses, even if it’s heavy on the goat kind (not my favorite)
— Service is friendly
— Seems to have a little bit of everything
— Tasty sandwiches
— Soup
— Coffee
— Easy consistent hours (7AM to 7PM, 7 Days a week)
Cons:
— Expensive
— Service can be slow
— Limited meat (if you like that kind of thing)
— Limited soda (if you like that kind of thing)