FOR years greengrocers have been a vanishing breed, disappearing from our high streets at an alarming rate.
However, after more than a decade without, Chapel Allerton is now home to a greengrocer, albeit one with a difference.
The Fruit Stall is a visiting market stall rather than a traditional shop.
And delighted locals have told Richard White, the man behind the project, it’s just what the community needs.
More than 250 customers turned out for the first weekend’s trading.
Richard, 28, said: “It’s been a great start – better than I ever could have imagined.
“People were just saying ‘this is the one thing Chapel Allerton has lacked, we’re so glad you’re here’.”
The 28-year-old former Radio York reporter was made redundant from a farm job around seven months ago and decided that was “the perfect opportunity” to run his own business.
He said: “I didn’t have the capital and wasn’t convinced a shop was going to work.
“But I thought a market stall, if I did it right, would be great.”
Without a property he keeps costs low and because he only trades on Fridays and Saturdays his produce is as fresh as possible.
Richard, a Chapel Allerton resident himself, said: “Supermarkets can’t offer what I offer.
“They can’t pick up their strawberries fresh from the farm at 6am and sell them that day.”
He added: “There’s a sort of revolution going on.
“People really want to return to having good service and not having to go to the supermarket.”
Chapel Allerton’s last greengrocers was in the unit occupied by Jack’s Hardware, on Harrogate Road, which has been trading for around 12 years.
In neighbouring suburbs, Oakwood Fruits closed around six months ago and at the end of last year Wrights of Moortown also closed.
But Richard is confident his business will work.
“I think Chapel Allerton really is different to other parts of Leeds and I think it really can be a success here.”
The Fruit Stall is on Stainbeck Lane, near Yorkshire bank, from 9am to 3.30pm.
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