Interactive Journalism I

Lobster Fest at the Brooklyn Farmacy

Posted on 03. Oct, 2009 by Megan Finnegan in Business and Economics, Rebecca Leung

Today, from 4-10pm rain or shine, the Brooklyn Farmacy kicks off its grand opening with a community celebration of sustainably harvested lobster, live music, face painting and old fashioned egg creams with proper Brooklyn-made U-Bet chocolate syrup.

Storefront on the corner of Henry and Sackett Streets, Carrroll Gardens

The storefront on the corner of Henry and Sackett Streets in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, has been curiously empty for over a decade, with local residents and the New York Times alike wondering what was going on behind the smudged glass of what used to be the Vermont Market & Pharmacy.

Original tile floor

Long before the store’s New England moniker, however, it was Lonco’s Pharmacy, which people in the neighborhood remember visiting as children.

The famously reclusive owner of the building remains behind the scenes, but there is somebody behind the counter now, preparing the store to once again become part of the neighborhood.

Freeman behind the counter

That somebody is Petey Freeman, a Brooklyn transplant who hails from farmland in Maine.  Freeman is the proprietor of the store in its new iteration, and his vision is to provide a space to sell local, organic and homemade fare.

Freeman’s philosophy is that “if you grow it, if you make it, if you raise it,” it belongs in the store.  Aside from fresh new produce and products, the Farmacy will feature a soda counter, which Freeman is currently trying to find, and also displays the wares of a drug store from days gone by.  Dry shampoo from the 50’s, a bottle of pills that expired in 1924, nitroglycerin tablets several decades old – nostalgia, novelty and new ideas will co-mingle in this new hybrid emporium.

Tags: Brooklyn, Carroll Gardens, organic, pharmacy, sustainable