The Carolina Market The Carolina Market

This farmers market is closed down and no longer there. it is now an industrial building.

This is a review of their new store location on Hay Street. As of this review, they don 't even have a sign up out front yet, but thanks to word-of-mouth they are already doing well enough to work on expansions. They are small, but accept credit cards. I absolutely love this place. They are the only grocery in Fayetteville that sells high-quality dairy products like milk, goat milk, buttermilk, butter, cheese, and heavy cream that are pasteurized and NOT ultra-pasteurized, meaning the products are not completely murdered for the sake of sanitation and they are healthier and better for cooking and baking of all kinds. They have farm fresh eggs, local produce (the highlights are purple sweet potatoes and the best local cherry/grape tomatoes you will ever eat, along with Swiss chard, red beets, strawberries, etc, depending on the day). They also sell bread from a bakery that has much better ingredients than store-bought bread in the area, soups from Sherefe Cafe, and homemade ravioli and lasagna. There are quite a few specialty items like crackers, cookies, BBQ sauce, flavored peanutbutters, and even homemade soap and lip balm. And most importantly they also have a great selection of meats. You can find local chicken, beef, bison, and lamb. I recommend this market. There are more good quality, health-promoting products in this small store than all the healthy items from the shelves of the typical Fayetteville grocery store combined.

So to let all my dirty laundry out there-I'm a bit lazy at times. So to disclose things even further, I subscribe to both this service but also The Produce Box. Whereas the Produce Box is just that, fruits and vegetables. Carolina Grown is that and so much more. This is a great alternative to being a member of multiple CSA's. Just to give you an example of the CSA's I'd have to be a member of to get the items that Carolina Grown offers-An egg CSA, a produce CSA, a seafood CSA, a dairy CSA, a beef CSA, a poultry CSA, a bison CSA, a pork CSA, and a lamb/goat CSA. I don't know about you but first of all shelling over money for a share or half share to participate in all these would first break my bank and secondly I wouldn't be able to eat all the items that are set for me to pick up. So the alternative is to get all these rolled into one and select your items according to the available menu and the points you have available. There are a few options in point quantity and how often you are billed. This business charges you weekly, whether you order or not, and issues you points, whether you use them or not. Some items are pretty pricey, but you get what you pay for, local, organic (if labeled) and delivered. Carolina Grown drops off every Saturday (if you order) in a cooler and the food is kept separated in the cooler so you don't get any cross-contamination. The highlights of my annual orders were the weekly delivery of eggs, the whole roaster free range organic hormone free chickens, the bison steaks and the assortment of seafood that comes direct from the coast. You can max out your points each week, or you can save points for when you want to get that rack of lamb, or a whole organic roast. I have had one issue with an item I've ordered, and after notifying the company I was credited back the points and haven't been happier with the quality, deliveries and service.

I started ordering with Carolina Grown in January and I am much happier with this than previous CSA's. I don't agree that the pricing is extremely high as some other reviewers have said. For the quality of the products, they are priced very well and I get to choose what I want so I can still try new things without ending up with products I don't want. The meat, for its quality and the fact that it is local, is very well priced. A lot of it is cheaper than I can buy at my local farmers market. The quality of the meat and vegetables is FANTASTIC. Some things are more than others but after a few weeks you can get a feel for what you like to order on the website and you can always choose what you want! I stick with the meat and some vegetables every week along with delicious eggs and fresh baked bread that are also reasonably priced. It comes right to my door and keeps healthy, fresh food in my fridge! Most of the meat also comes frozen so I don't have to worry about finishing it all within a few days. Check the website out for yourself they have a sample menu. You can also order over the points you choose for the week and they just bill you for the extra amount without charging you to do so, which I think is really nice. One complaint is they tend to sell out of some of the more popular things by the end of the ordering period. But I almost always order right when ordering starts so don't have this problem.

I just ended my membership with Carolina Grown for a few reasons. 1. Their food quality cost does not equal out. They are incredibly expensive and it 's ridiculous. Taking the time to to the farmer 's market is much more worth it so that 's what we 've decided to do. 2. I put my account on hold two times and each time I was still charged. The first time the woman on the phone said she wasn 't sure why it didn 't take. Whatever. They didn 't refund me so I just used the points I was charged for the following week. That was also at Christmas and, unfortunately, part of my budget was affected by that money coming out. Hence my reason for placing my account on hold. Now this is the second time I 've placed it on hold. I called to make sure my account was, in fact, on hold and they said yes. Monday morning the money was taken from my account. The woman on the phone said that because I didn 't clear out my previous hold, it trips the system up and charges me. How is that my fault? Since this happened over two weeks ago, I have closed my account. I 've called six times and when I 've actually gotten this same woman on the phone her answer is, I will email our IT department and ask them to refund you. The last time I spoke with her she said she would call me when that was happening. That was over a week ago. I have left messages, emailed through their website, and on Facebook. Since reading the post from Berry on here I have decided to use my remaining points and call it a day. In the end, good customer service will win my business above anything else and Carolina Grown definitely doesn 't have that.