Centre County’s newest grocery store is looking to keep it all local. Take a look inside

Sowers Market is Centre County’s newest grocery store, but owner Earl Rissler is hoping that his unique approach to grocery shopping will guarantee him sustained success in the future.

Rissler prides himself on offering locally-sourced, fresh and nutritious goods to his customers in every way that he can — something that he knows his competitors can’t always provide.

“While we aren’t nearly to the point where we want to be yet, the ultimate goal is to have everything sold in this store be local and fresh,” Rissler said. “I think people would enjoy coming to shop here knowing that what they’re buying was grown or made in the area, and I don’t think anybody else around here can say that they do that.”

Sowers Market opened Thursday at 670 Tyrone Pike in Philipsburg after minor renovations to the building that was the longtime home of Conklin’s Corner Antique & Gift Barn , which closed in January. But Rissler’s grocery journey started with his family on his own farm in the State College area.

But when he looked to open his own store, he found that prices were too high for him to open a location in State College, so he started to look elsewhere. That’s when he found the Philipsburg space.

“There were a lot of things we encountered when moving up here that were unexpected for sure,” Rissler said. “It took a lot more time than we anticipated to package everything up, transport it to the store and get it set up right on the shelves. But once we did that, we were good to go.”

As for Rissler’s approach to shopping, he’d like every container in his store to be see-through — and for good reason.

“I, personally, like to be able to see what I’m buying,” Rissler said. “I feel better about a good that I purchase when I can physically see through the packaging. While it isn’t the case right now, I’d truthfully like all of the packaging for the goods we sell here to be clear, so that the customer can see exactly what they’re getting, along with how much.”

There are also many products in his store that have listed the exact weight of the good, along with the proper pricing — something that he and his family all do themselves.

“We don’t have any crazy factory machines or anything like that to help us weigh out the portions — we do it all ourselves,” Rissler said. “It definitely takes some time to get everything all measured out, but by doing it that way the customers know that it was done properly.”

What Rissler hopes for most is that the customers, and the four employees that work at Sowers Market, are treated like family.

The motto of his prior business, a bicycle repair shop in Union County, was “fun for the whole family,” and he intends to stick to that motto with his current business.

“We want everyone who comes in here, whether they’re a customer or an employee, to be treated like family. That’s crucial to us,” Rissler said.

Sowers Market is open Tuesday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The market is closed on Sundays and Mondays.

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