KEESEVILLE — Keeseville Grocery & Deli, located at 1894 Route 9, officially opened its doors to the community with a soft-opening Friday, Dec. 6.
The market offers a variety of pantry staples, fresh produce, deli meats and cheeses, baked goods and more.
“We opened a couple weeks ago. A soft opening. It’s pretty much a grocery store. We have produce and meats, general grocery like snacks and beverages,” John Sikandar, co-owner of the new grocery store said.
While the market is open, there is still work to be done, according to Sikander.
“We are still waiting on a couple things to kick in, like an oven and beer license, SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits) and some other things,” he said.
Keeseville grocery is a family-owned store that offers a convenient one-stop shop where you can find everything you need from the everyday essentials to specialty items from around the world, their web site proudly says.
It is open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
For the past eight months, John Sikandar, and his father Kahn, have been preparing the property to run the market.
“We’ve been in here 7 or 8 months working redoing and renovating things, shelves, cashier counters, everything,” John said.
The father-son duo have been in the gas station business for a long time and already run a similar market in Vermont, which has been working well for them.
“It just sort of suddenly happened. We have one other location in Vermont that’s been good for us. This is pretty much a copy of that one,” John said.
“It’s me and my dad. This is the second location we opened together. We’ve been in gas stations for a while, but this is new.”
The two decided to copy that formula and open a grocery store in Keeseville.
“We want to be an affordable option, we do have some more expensive versions of some products, but there is a variety, a good selection. Our feedback has been beyond expectations,” John said.
John plans on adding locally-sourced foods to the shelves one day.
“Down the road we plan on adding a more local spin, with local syrups and meats, and things from around the area,” he said.