Shelley Scoggin, the founder and proprietor of The Market, an independent health food store and café now in its 37th year of business, is a cornerstone of the Greenport scene. Inside the sunny sage-green storefront on Front Street you’ll find the delicious salads, wraps, and smoothies — as well as sundry products — that many locals have come to depend on. Shelley’s positive influence has also created a welcoming space in The Market where friendships have blossomed, ideas were born and, more often than not, kindnesses are bestowed.
Scoggin, who was named The Suffolk Times’ Businessperson of the Year in 2011, has creatively changed aspects of The Market over the years while holding to its core: healthy, delicious food and good-for-you pantry and medicine-cabinet items. She’s also had an enormous impact on the community that she came to via chance encounter nearly 40 years ago.
In the Beginning
In 1983, Scoggin and her then-boyfriend (and now-husband), Lindsey, were living in Washington, D.C., when they visited the East End for the first time. While attending a friend’s wedding on Shelter Island, Lindsey was spontaneously offered a job at Suffolk Etched Products in Riverhead and the couple decided to stay. “It was a big move,” says Scoggin, “but it was so beautiful out here and we were ready for a change.”
Scoggin, a painter and collage artist who attended the Rhode Island School of Design and graduated from George Washington University, found work as a graphic designer and got a job at a health food store in Southold called Natural Fixins’. She bought the business in 1987 and changed its name to The Market while she was pregnant with her first child.
Scoggin wanted a store that offered organic produce and “clean” products — high-quality items made with no preservatives, dyes, artificial colorings or flavorings and GMOs, something not readily available back then. She had a bit of experience working at a health food store in Washington, but she mostly wanted to provide healthier options for her family.
“There were people with Celiac [disease] who couldn’t find gluten-free alternatives,” Scoggin says. “There were people who had cancer who would really count on us to make their juices and get their supplements.” She researched and bought from small, reputable companies, wanting her customers to know that she vetted her suppliers. “We try to sell as clean as possible,” she notes.
As her family and business grew, The Market moved to Greenport in 1997, setting up shop in an old Victorian house (130 Front Street, where the Blue Duck Bakery and Café is now) across from Mitchell Park, stocking diapers, toothbrushes, razors and deodorant, and saving folks a long drive west for supplies. She continued to sell vitamins and supplements, researching their health benefits and learning on the job. “I learned from people coming in asking for products over the years,” she says. “[The supplements] must have some effect, whether it’s echinacea or goldenseal for colds or horsetail for broken bones. I’m not a doctor, but if you try it, it really works.”
The Market also cooked and delivered healthy meals for customers, including many on Shelter Island. Many of Scoggin’s regulars were elderly or had health issues and depended on this service, as Peapod and Amazon were a long way off. She also started another service for second homeowners: shopping and filling their refrigerators for the weekend. In no time, “We outgrew the space,” she recalls.
The Market Girls
During the 2008 recession, The Market made another move to its current location on Front Street, which Scoggin considered a mixed blessing. It was a much larger space, but it came with a loss of business as the economy slumped. It didn’t help that online services were now Scoggin’s competition.
So, once again, she pivoted.
“We shifted more to table service,” Scoggin says. “We hosted cooking classes and supper clubs.” She set up a play space for kids and encouraged their parents to hang out. Her two daughters, Chelsea and Emily, began working at the store. Her son Austin’s best friend, Travis Zurawski, was also an employee, and Lindsey helped out by hanging lights, cleaning the grease trap, picking up groceries, and fixing the Wi-Fi, among other things.
“[Lindsey] has always been super supportive,” Scoggin says with a smile.
Around this time, a dedicated group of female employees coalesced around Scoggin. Called “The Market Girls,” they became known for their efficiency and knowledge, serving customers with a smile.
“I spent a summer behind the counter,” says Zurawski. “Having a guy behind the counter was rare, because for a very long time it was ‘The Market Girls’ who ran the show … [They] made that place special and a warm place to be. The energy of the girls matched the business so well.” Scoggin remarks that The Market Girls were “a group of young women that became like a family, some that I have watched grow up and am still close to today … Bianca, Skyler, Mackenzie, Shayann, Katie, Kayla, and Jenn,” to name a few.
Market Girl Skye Gillispie looks back fondly on her days working at the store. “Being a Market Girl was really special and felt like working alongside my sisters. We all really cared about each other and the food we were making,” she says. “It wasn’t until I got a bit older that I realized truly how much I learned about natural foods and food preparation working under Shelley. The skills and experiences I had as a Market Girl really shaped who I grew into as an adult.”
“I think the Market Girls were so beloved in the community because we were friendly and really got to know the customers,” Skye continues. “We were always smiling and laughing behind the counter, which was contagious. To this day, Shelley continues to be like a bonus mom to me!”
Ian Wile, founder of Little Creek Oysters, recalls meeting Scoggin more than 20 years ago. “We met Scoggin, The Market, and the ‘world-famous’ Market Girls when we first arrived in Greenport some 20-plus years ago,” he says. “It was our first community hub. With a toddler in tow, a toy kitchen set up and a relaxed environment, it was our first home away from home.”
As it happened, Zurawski met Wile and his family for the first time at Thanksgiving at Scoggin’s house. Today, Zurawski, Wile, and Wile’s wife, Rosalie, are partners at Little Creek Oysters.
For many years, Scoggin ran Greenport’s First Night New Year’s Eve events, including organizing a children’s Olympics in Mitchell Park. The Market sponsored the popular Waiter’s Race each summer to raise money for Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital, featuring servers from local restaurants racing through the streets while trying to keep a full glass of lemonade intact on a tray.
A Pandemic Pivot
When Covid came along in 2020, Scoggin, along with just about everyone, had to once again pivot. “We switched our focus to providing groceries to people who were staying out here,” she remembers. She ran the store by herself, taking orders by phone or email and packing them in boxes to be picked up outside.
Scott Raulsome of Burton’s Books, across the street from The Market, says that he and Scoggin “spent a lot of time together during Covid, since she was the only person there and I was the only person here. I’d go over and see what was going on. She was the first person I met when I opened … she brought over these delicious mini-apple turnovers. Lots of people go to The Market just to talk to her.”
As people slowly came out of isolation, they returned and began asking for their favorites, like chicken salad, soups, and kale salad. Table service was eliminated and The Market began to offer the prepackaged salads and grab-and-go items that customers requested. Fresh juices and smoothies were made to order.
“I’m obsessed with her coconut water and peanut-butter smoothie,” says Raulsome, referencing the “Tall, Dark and Handsome” smoothie made with chocolate, banana, coconut water and peanut butter. “My staff is dependent on her! They have lots of dietary restrictions and are there at least once a day. Everyone in the community knows her. She’s there every day.”
Recently, Scoggin took on a partner, Cornucopia Natural Foods in Sayville, after becoming unhappy with her previous distributor’s increasing surcharges and late deliveries. “I was disheartened because my products were now too expensive and I wasn’t comfortable charging that much,” she notes. “Cornucopia has a much larger buying power … their pricing is great. We can offer phenomenal sales now.”
Another partnership she’s made is with local business In The Attic Too, allowing her to stock antique and vintage glassware, cookware, and decorative items, which her customers love. The unique pieces are sought by locals, day trippers and second homeowners all looking for something special.
Also on offer is Scoggin’s own artwork, which hangs on a clothesline at the back of the store. She has shown and sold with the North Fork Art Collective as a collage artist inspired by the beauty of the North Fork.
“I love working with mixed media. Collage and all things paper, especially maps, find their way into most of my work. The color and textures of our environment out here — fields, skies, creeks, beaches, woods — it is forever inspiring to me,” she says.
Souvenirs Over the Years
The Market is chock full of quirky personal items to peruse as you shop. A collection of postcards sent by customers from all over are displayed in neat rows. The famous “Blue Boy” painting, which came from the house Lindsey grew up in, gazes over the space. Recently, Lindsey found him a companion when he bought “Roman Girl at Fountain” at a yard sale; she now resides next to the boy.
When former customer Joe Townsend, competitive rower and a past mayor of Greenport, passed away, his family gifted the medals he won at the Panama Games to Scoggin; they are proudly displayed on the wall. A poem that Scoggin’s son wrote in second grade hangs over a vintage kitchen table from the 1950s, and another former mayor of Greenport, David Nyce, contributed The Market’s signs and built the large breadbox that houses Scoggin’s supply of fresh loaves.
“I love living here. I love the small-town community; it keeps you honest,” says Scoggin. “It’s a wonderful place to raise children; the sense of community, watching kids become adults, is fun to see.”
Photos by David Benthal
These days, Scoggin has an appreciation for a simpler life and is doing what she can to make things easier on herself, like giving herself time to enjoy her grandchildren, gardening, and the inspiring seascapes and open spaces of the North Fork. “To be in it this long you need to be passionate,” she says, noting that she is looking forward to the future with Cornucopia as a new partner.
Wile insists that “it is a testament to Shelley’s love and care that she has managed to not only remain in business for over three decades, but that she has done so with principles intact, providing a home for everyone from multi-generational residents to daytime visitors. She embodies a true ideal of a village business, and I am forever grateful for her company, support, and guidance.”
“To me, Shelley is someone who had a dream and is still out there making it happen,” says Zurawski. “The village has changed dramatically in that time, but her presence has remained a constant on Front Street … She provides for quirky health needs, the special “you can only get those here” vitamins, and a small little table to sit and talk about it all.”
