With plans to grow, Centre Markets opens new Pine Grove Mills shop. See inside
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- Centre Markets opened a new shop at 112 W. Pine Grove Road in Pine Grove Mills.
- The online farmers market previously operated a smaller shop inside the Nittany Mall.
- Centre Markets plans to expand the shop by opening a shared-use kitchen.
After making progress on her ever-growing checklist, Sabine Carey is ready to start a new chapter in Pine Grove Mills.
Carey, the owner of Centre Markets, recently opened a new brick-and-mortar store for her online farmers market at 112 W. Pine Grove Road. The new location marks a major milestone for her team, which has long sought to find a space to grow while bringing local goods to Centre County customers.
Centre Markets celebrated its new location with a soft opening just after Thanksgiving. Guests are now welcome to shop in the cozy Pine Grove Mills store nearly three years after Carey first toured it and began planning her farmers market’s future home.
“We’ve been busy, and now the work really starts,” Carey told the Centre Daily Times. “It’s taken so long to get here, and there were many times when I felt we wouldn’t be able to overcome the hurdle we faced. We did every time, and here we are.”
The new store is already packed by shelves lined with local goods, including fresh produce, meats and cheeses, pottery, apparel and more. Centre Markets’ offerings are regularly refreshed thanks to its network of more than 40 local producers, including Gemelli Bakers, the Cakeshop by Tati, the Reedsville Creamery and Carey’s own Full Circle Farms in Spring Mills.
The community played a key role in supporting Centre Markets’ expansion, Carey said. Some products on its shelves, including earrings made from recycled beer cans, were even produced by neighbors.
“It’s really nice to carry products from the community,” Carey said. “It doesn’t get much more local than three doors down. The community is on board, and that’s key.”
Centre Markets launched in 2020 during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and expanded by opening its first storefront inside the Nittany Mall in 2024. Though she initially leased a space there to simply store farmers market goods and pack orders, Carey said the location provided valuable experience for her team and served as a stepping stone toward Centre Markets’ future.
The market’s new digs in Pine Grove Mills offers significantly more space and storage options than the Nittany Mall location, Carey said. The front porch will allow Centre Markets to carry plants and flowers, while exterior windows provide much-needed daylight to improve the shopping experience.
The building, which dates back to roughly 1850, required lots of work after sitting abandoned for a few years, including the replacement of a water main and central support beam. Carey’s team renovate the interior of the building, which most recently housed a flooring store and a consignment shop.
Expansion continues in Pine Grove Mills
Centre Markets already has plans to grow its new home with the installation of a shared-use commercial kitchen, where producers with proper licensing could offer even more for customers. Carey suggested farmers with too much produce on their hands, for example, could use the space to turn leftover tomatoes into tomato soup and serve it directly to shoppers at the market.
“We have a lot of people who are interested in improving people’s lives through access to whole, nutritious food,” Carey said. “So, this is sort of the hub for all of that — all the produce from the farms. It’s the next logical step to have a kitchen to prepare it all in.”
A shared-use kitchen has always been a core part of Centre Markets’ expansion plans, Carey said. She observed a sharp rise in demand for prepared but fresh food during the COVID-19 pandemic and says there’s still a need for it in Centre County.
Carey says Centre Markets hopes to use its new home to better connect with the community. More room at the Pine Grove Mills shop should allow its team to more easily host cooking classes once the kitchen is up and running in 2026.
The store’s kitchen project received a major boost over the summer when Centre Markets received a $111,985 grant from Pennsylvania’s Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure program. The grant will help fund renovations to commercial kitchen facilities that “support product development and expand distribution for regional producers.”
Once Centre Markets’ kitchen is open next year, Carey plans to invite community members to a more formal event to celebrate the new store’s completion.
The market’s owner said she also plans to install garden plots and raised beds behind the store to grow some food and plants on-site. They could be used for hands-on gardening lessons and demonstrations, too.
“If we can do it in our little lot in Pine Grove Mills along this main street, surely most people could [grow plants] in similar spaces at home,” Carey said. “Everything we will do here will revolve around local food and growing your own food.”
Online orders continue
Although Centre Markets has moved into a new brick-and-mortar shop, it will still offer online orders for local customers.
Shoppers can place orders through Centre Markets’ website at any time between 8 a.m. on Saturdays and 5 p.m. on Mondays. They can then pick up orders at the Ferguson Township Lions Club (424 W. Pine Grove Road in Pine Grove Mills) between 2:30 and 5 p.m. on Wednesdays or receive them via delivery in the State College, Boalsburg, Lemont, Bellefonte or Pine Grove Mills areas.
Centre Markets maintains an online product list that changes each week as new products are available.
Carey agreed to rent the Lions Club out every Wednesday for roughly a year. She says the club has plenty of space to organize online orders, take inventory and host shoppers thanks to its large parking lot.
For now, Centre Markets’ Pine Grove Mills shop is open from 11 to 5 p.m. on Tuesdays and Saturdays, 11 to 6 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays and noon to 4 p.m. on Sundays. The shop is closed on Mondays and open from just 4 to 6 p.m. on Wednesdays to accommodate its online order pickup window.
As Centre Markets begins a new chapter, Carey says local shoppers are eagerly embracing its new shop.
“People are loving it, and it’s been so sweet,” Carey said. “I think Pine Grove Mills has been really waiting for this, and especially something in this building in the heart of town. It’s a very sweet, welcoming feeling to be here.”
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