Northshore magazine showcases the best that the North Shore of Boston, MA has to offer.
Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/646476
24 | APRIL 2016 nshoremag.com for her sweet treats all over Boston for several decades. And retail di- rector Rob McCarron, who oversees the store's enticing selection of 400 bottles of wine, as well as beer and gourmet items, expanded his exten- sive knowledge of wine, cheese, and other delectables from posts at the Boston Harbor Hotel and L'Espalier, among other top establishments. It is clearly a big investment, in terms of both staffing and the design/build of the space. The cozy dining area with its warm tones, soft lighting, and photography by Walsh's daughter evokes the mood of a sunset. Bluestone porches sur- round the building, and there might be live music in the summer. There's even an ice cream stand—Walsh and his family took on the enviable task of sampling scoops from multiple local creameries before settling on Crescent Ridge Dairy in Sharon to provide the cold confections. Walsh admits he may have deeper pockets than your average entrepreneur—a decade ago he sold a tech company he built from scratch to Xerox, for a sum siz- able enough to let him pursue his community, he quietly opened on Christmas Eve in 2015. "Anticipation in the neighbor- hood was so great that I promised the team we would open the minute we could—the final inspections were the day before Christmas Eve, so we opened Christmas Eve," Walsh says. He just propped up an "Open" sign by the road, and was treated to a steady stream of people picking up charcuterie, cheese platters, wines, and mouthwatering desserts to round out their holiday meals. Neighbors of his had been looking at an empty lot since 2007, when a gas station was razed to make way for a hoped-for general store. Walsh joined the project in 2014, with a vision to make a "gen- eral store on steroids"—something of an homage to a purveyor he recalls from his youth in Newton. "My brothers and I made a lot of great memories there," says Walsh, who greets patrons with warmth and sincerity. "If I can create a place where people can make those kinds of memories, I'll be happy." dreams. He also has grand ambi- tions—this is the first of multiple Town Markets to come. Walsh is deeply and personally involved in every aspect of the business—he even strapped on a harness and joined a team of roof- ers in January 2015, during the epic snows, to move his project forward. After much anticipation within the CO N TAC T Town Market Andover 429 South Main St. Andover 978-409-2328 townmarketandover. com Above, Italian provisions line the shelves; pastry chef Lee Napoli's divine croissants; Below, Town Market's retail director Rob McCarron