General Info

Our story begins in the hills of Sicily. When my Grandfather was a boy he would climb those hills every morning to pick lemons and figs for the market. Around 1910 he and his dad climbed aboard a boat with nothing more then the clothes on their back and headed for America. They landed on Ellis Island and soon found their way to Boston. After saving their pennies, they were able to buy a pushcart and sell fresh fruits and vegetables on the streets of Boston. Over the years my Grandfather had developed his pushcart into a thriving wholesale business and opened a store in Boston's Faneuil Hall. (Back then Faneuil Hall was Boston's center for wholesaling fruits and vegetables.) As my father, aunts and uncles grew up, they all pitched in to help my grandfather at his store. In the 1940s the produce businesses in that area began to move. My family found a location in the North End of Boston to sell their produce and in 1952 decided to move the business to its present location in Reading, Massachusetts. Our business has expanded over the last 50 years, but we strive to run our store the way my Grandfather taught us: with hard work and honesty, providing the community with the best fruits and vegetables and offering them at a good value. We have a bakery in our store that makes many great treats. Some of the favorites include bread pudding, fresh baked cookies and pizza dough. Our cut flower department makes a large selection of beautiful fresh bouquets. The bouquets are just the right size to bring home and put into a vase to brighten a room. Our most obvious expansion has been to our garden center. We now have a tremendous amount of room to display and care for our plants, pumpkins, Christmas trees and other seasonal items. This allows us to offer a much larger selection and it makes the shopping experience at Calareso's more pleasurable. Calareso's Farmstand and Garden Center 122 Main St., MA 01867 Reading( 781) 944- 6010