The push to support local producers continues to grow in the West Texas area, and that’s why local farmer and owner of Revolution Farms, Quentin Clendenen, came up with a more permanent solution for local vendors to make a profit all year round.
“We produce about 40,000 to 50,000 pounds of vine ripe tomatoes in a three to four month time span, so it’s a lot to get rid of. We’ve done the farmers markets, but I just wanted vendors to have a place where they could sell their products during the winter months, and there hasn’t been a place to do that so far,” Clendenen says.
Clendenen had the idea to make a new farmers market in town, which would stay open 7 days a week during the winter months, with hopes of continuing long after.
“We probably started this idea about six months ago, so it’s just been a really hard push ever since then to get where we’re at now,” he says.
He’s now just a few weeks away from opening at the South Plains Mall.
“We chose the mall because it was the highest traffic place that we could think of in order to get rid of all the tomatoes,” Clendenen says. “What we’ve done here is have nothing but local vendors in there. You’re not getting anything in my store from more than 90 miles outside Lubbock.”
“I thought of the idea, went to the mall, and they approved it. Then I just started reaching out vendor to vendor, and I would say 99-percent of the people that I spoke to wanted to do it,” he adds.
The 1,500-square-foot facility involves 20 local vendors as of now, and they will offer everything from free-range chicken eggs, cow milk, handmade soaps, and baked goods. The main goal is to produce fresh, local, high-quality goods.
“We sanitize the tomatoes, rinse them, dry them off, and pack them. Then we transport them directly to the mall, so if we harvest at 5:30 or 6 in the morning, then the tomatoes that you will buy from me that day will have been harvested two to three hours prior to that. That’s what we consider fresh,” Clendenen says.
An interesting fact about his tomatoes is that they are grown all year long inside a greenhouse, something that is not very common in the South Plains.
“Yes, we are more expensive than what you’ll find at the grocery store, but you pay for what you get, and what you’re getting with us is the best that you can find within 400 to 500 miles of Lubbock,” Clendenen says.
He says his tomatoes are about three weeks away from being ripe. He hopes to have his tomatoes ready to go within the first few weeks of opening Revolution Farmers Market. Until then, he says the store will sell all the other vendor goods.
“They don’t have to sell their products. We are going to do that for them, which will free them up in turn to make products full-time,” he says.
Clendenen hopes the entire community will support this shop, because his hope is to continue it longer than just the winter months. Revolution farms will officially open on November 4th. It will be located south of the food court, near Bealls. It will be open Monday – Saturday 10am – 9pm, and Sunday 12 – 8pm.