SHARON – After 16 years serving sandwiches, prepared foods and catered meals from the back of Sharon Farm Market, Jam Food Shop will leave the grocery store this fall and relocate to a new home in downtown Salisbury.
In October, Jam Food Shop will relocate to 19 Main St. in Salisbury, taking over the space formerly occupied by Neo Restaurant & Bar before its permanent closure last month.
Colin Kennedy, Jam’s deli manager since joining in 2020 and the son of the store’s founder and owner, Lee Kennedy, said the decision to leave stemmed from a dispute over the store’s lease terms with Sharon Farm Market owners, Chris and Kim Choe.
“We’ve been trying to stay ahead of it for at least the last two years,” Kennedy said of the lease, which is due for renewal in October. “It was just hard to come to an agreement.”
Kennedy and Sharon Farm Market owner Chris Choe declined to elaborate on the terms of the lease, or the specifics of the dispute.
Jam’s leadership concluded over the winter that a relocation was inevitable and quickly began searching for a new home, Kennedy said. After exploring options in Millerton and Wassaic, the Salisbury Main Street storefront emerged as the best choice once the Neo space became available, he added.
“We got excited because it made the most sense for what we’re trying to do,” Kennedy said, noting that the space comes equipped with a kitchen, which the other locations did not have.
Kennedy assured customers that Jam will continue serving from Sharon Farm Market through the summer, and anticipates a smooth transition to the new space in the fall.
Shoppers in Sharon Market on Saturday, May 30, said they will be sad to see Jam leave the store, but are grateful it will remain open. Michelle McBreairty, a Sharon local who lives near the shopping center, said she and many others will miss what has been a reliable lunch spot for more than a decade and a half.
Jennifer Naylor said the market itself will lose a valuable asset with Jam’s departure. “That’s the best thing about this store,” she said, noting that the move itself was welcome news to her, as she is also soon to move to downtown Salisbury.
Kennedy said the Salisbury location will be largely the same store that Sharon shoppers are used to, with the addition of indoor and outdoor seating so customers can enjoy their purchases on site.
He said regulars can expect the same favorites to appear on the Salisbury menu – the crunchy vegetable salad, tofu ginger salad, turkey swiss and cranberry mayo sandwich and the Italian Stallion sandwich, to name a few – plus the addition of a few new sandwiches to take advantage of the spacious location.
“We’re just really excited to show everyone the new spot,” he said.
Despite having spent most of its time in Sharon Farm Market, the new store will actually be Jam’s third location, having spent its early days in a small shopfront on Calkinstown Road alongside several other businesses before the grocery store opened in 2010. Those shops have since been removed to make space for the Sharon Country Inn.
Kennedy said that the business has remained relatively consistent since its inception in 2008, with the only major change being the expansion of the grab-and-go program during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He moved to Sharon from New York City and started working at Jam during that time, which he said was a lively time to join the business. “We were off to the races,” he said, recalling that community members were grateful for their service during a difficult period. “It definitely kept me busy,” he added.
Another constant with no plans to change is the store’s name, which has become a staple in the Northwest Corner’s food scene.
Kennedy said customers frequently ask about its origin, he said, but he doesn’t have a straight answer.
He described a favorite children’s book growing up called Jam, which featured a family that made jam together from an apple tree in the yard.
He said he suspects the book may have inspired his mother when she was building her own community-focused family food business.
“I think it just kind of stuck out to her,” he said, just as it now has in the minds of many hungry shoppers in Sharon and beyond.
Cella’s paintings are tucked in almost every available space thoughout Little Store Antiques. L. Tomaino
