Cushman Market
By Kate Olesin
Collegian Staff
Cushman’s Market and Café has a long history, evidenced by its antique beams and old hardwood floor, and has seen different owners within its walls.
Today, Cushman’s is a hideaway café and local market in Amherst that’s a great place to come read or grab a sandwich. Located at 491 Pine Street in Amherst, Cushman’s is slightly removed from the hubbub of the downtown area, which has its own selection of coffee shops and cafés. Many students are unaware of Cushman’s simply because it only just reopened in 2005 for business under the management of couple and local residents Rebecca Schwartz and Pete Sylvan.
“Owning [Cushman’s] is really about being able to contribute to the community,” said Schwartz. “We have a friendly, local and unique place – we’re keeping the tradition going.”
Schwartz, Sylvan and their two children live just up the street. Though they both have other jobs – Schwartz is an architect and Sylvan owns his own import wholesale business – owning the market and café takes up all their time.
And they couldn’t be happier.
“There’s such a strong community presence here,” said Schwartz. “It’s not just a chain store. We wouldn’t have bought it if there was a Cumberland Farms here.”
Cushman’s started out in the horse-and-buggy days as a local grocery store, and has remained a market since it opened in 1892. Between 1936 and 1965, it became Rackliffe’s Food Market, and around 1981, it changed names again to Whittemore’s New England Food Market.
Schwartz and Sylvan bought the building two and a half years ago and added in windows, bought a permit to make the backside a café and added seating and vibrant color with local artwork to attract visitors.
“It’s undergone a number of resurrections,” said Schwartz.
Complete with wireless Internet, a large sandwich, panini and burger menu, coffee, desserts and cookies, the café brings a crowd, which is filled with people of all ages: students, children, families and older Cushman’s fanatics.
Like the market adjoining the café, the food is made from natural and fresh produce and meats.
The café does breakfast and lunch, and on Thursdays and Fridays cooks rotisserie chickens that customers looking for an easy meal can buy and take home. They are so popular, according to Schwartz, you usually have to reserve one.
But with over 19 sandwiches, paninis and burgers to chose from, you can’t go wrong.
“The Lady Rowena” is a popular sandwich choice with goat cheese, pesto and a tomato, set on a baguette with crisp, fresh lettuce for $6.25. Served with chips and a pickle, this light but chewy sandwich (due to the bread) has such a simple design, but is bursting with fresh cheese and pesto flavor, which gives it a local, Amherst feel. The meal was topped off with a natural and flowery tasting “Citrus Hibiscus,” a Vermont-made micro soda.
Some other sandwiches include the “Mity Nice,” with cheddar cheese, tomato, cucumber, red onion and stone ground mustard on a baguette for $5.50. For the kids, there’s the “Pony Boy” – essentially a peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwich on sourdough bread for $3.50. Or try the “Corvette” charburger, with sharp Vermont cheddar, bacon and caramelized onions on a bun for $7.50.
Breakfast is served daily until 11 a.m. and on Sundays from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. It includes a dish like “By the Sea” – three scrambled, farm fresh eggs, smoked salmon and caramelized onions served with a toasted bagel.
Cushman’s also serves homemade soup in a cup or bowl, which can be combined with half sandwiches or quiche for a meal deal.
Sundays are special for the market and café.
Besides the extended breakfast hour, you can also go and enjoy live jazz while you order from the coffee bar or enjoy the local art that adorns the walls. Once the warm weather returns, Cushman’s will open up its patio, a feature of the café popular among customers, who sit outside sipping drinks and watching the trains pass by.
The market is also complete with local food and all the essentials that students might need, including laundry detergent, beer and the card you forgot to get your mom for her birthday. The market and café also accept OCMP. Cushman’s has a history of selling unique, and somewhat weird, gifts, according to Schwartz.
“A lot of students come and like to buy the Mapleline Farms milk, especially the chocolate milk,” Schwartz said, referring to the Hadley farm. “They also like the glass bottles.”
If you come back with your empty glass milk bottle, you get a dollar off your next glass bottle of milk.
The market has a wine and beer selection, which, although small, is reasonably priced and stocked with well-known and local brands. It sells French Rabbit wine, which comes in a recyclable box and protects wine against ultraviolet rays for $9.99. Berkshire Brewing Company, Paper City Brewing Company and The People’s Pint are just some of the beer sold in the market.
Yet it’s the customers – not just the creative products – that keep Schwartz going.
“Our customers are so great,” she said. “We know many of them and they know us. We wouldn’t be here without them.”
Cushman’s Market and Café is located on 491 Pine Street in Amherst. For more information, call 413-549-0100 or visit them online at www.cushmanmarket.com.
Kate Olesin can be reached at kolesin@dailycollegian.com.