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Fresh Acres Market opens in 16 Acres

By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor



SPRINGFIELD Looking around the new Fresh Acres Market, Store Manager Mike Beaudry said the turn-out on the opening day was "absolutely fantastic."

Fresh Acres is a new prototype store operated as a separate division of Big Y Foods. It's located in the shopping plaza at the corner of Wilbraham Road and Parker Street in the building that once housed a Big Y store.

Beaudry said the store has been two years in the making. It employs 100 people, some of whom came from positions within the Big Y organizations, while others are new hires. He said the staff has been training since June for the store's opening.

One can easily see it's like no other market in Hampden County. The main entrance of store is through an open air "farm stand" that features many locally grown fruits and vegetables. Through that area one can enter the main part of the market which is dominated by a huge circular counter. The counter is divided into different departments from dishes cooked and ready to be re-heated to fresh meats and fish to a fresh pasta bar and brick oven to bake pizzas.

The meals are the product of what Beaudry called a "state of the art" kitchen headed by Chef Mike Furtek who is a graduate of the New England Culinary Institute with 26 years experience. Among the entrees prepared by Furtek and his five cook staff is roast pork loin with apple cranberry cornbread stuffing, turkey meatloaf, lasagna Bolognese and grilled salmon with maple soy glaze.

The market features an olive bar -- like a salad bar in that customers can package their own variety of olives. There are displays of store-baked cookies, brownies, doughnuts and breads and a selection of 400 gourmet cheeses from around the world.

For those amateur cooks looking to try exotic recipes, Fresh Acres has a lot of base ingredients including 96 different oils.

There is a heavy emphasis on natural and organic food and the largest selection of gluten-free products in New England, according to Beaudry.

The store also has many of the standard pantry basics people need, he added. It is open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.