HUNTERTOWN, Ind. (WANE) – If you are looking for locally made goods throughout the Fort Wayne area, chances are you will have to go to the Young Leaders of Northeast Indiana farmer’s market that is only once a week.

Now, people can go purchase locally grown produce and other locally made goods at The Process in Huntertown. The store was founded by Huntertown based farmer Josh Cockram, who has been selling produce in Fort Wayne for 10 years and has been a vendor at the YLNI Farmer’s Market for eight years.

The Process sells goods varying from locally made honey, jellies, hot sauces and relishes. The store is located on 14547 Lima Road.

Cockram opened his storefront in March 2022 and operates it with his wife, Eve. They hire people during the summer to help when they are the busiest.

“Our store has done very good so far in our first year,” he said. “When you first open up a new store, you get nervous not knowing how things will go at first, but we had a pretty established business going as vendors at the farmer’s market.”

They felt they needed to open up a storefront because they were renting out kitchen space at the Community Harvest Food Bank and it got to the point where they needed their own space.

He said having to commute an hour to the food bank became inconvenient and wanted to be closer to their farm.

“We live in Huntertown and our kids go to school here, it made more sense for us,” he added.

Another reason for opening up the store was to be able to provide the community with a grocery store before any large grocery chain comes into town.

The Process partners with 30 local farmer’s market vendors like Country Roads Coffee in Albion, Moo-Over Ice Cream in Columbia City and GK Baked Goods in Fort Wayne. This gives these businesses an opportunity to sell their goods other than just one day a week.

Not every person is able to make it to every farmer’s market, so Cockram believes having his store open six days a week allows more of the community to support local farmers and helps other businesses.

He has future plans to open up a mushroom farm in the area since he believes not enough are being grown in the community.

“When people shop here, they know they are keeping money here and have access to all locally made products,” he said.