Niemann Harvest Market
2140 E. 116th St., Carmel
317-343-4718
Sean Olson doesn’t like the phrase “grocery store.” He’s the director of Carmel’s newly opened Niemann Harvest Market, a farmer-and-maker-focused business that sells groceries and grab-and-go dishes. While the three-location chain is owned by Illinois-based conglomerate Niemann Foods, Olson insists the markets operate independently from the larger company (which operates businesses across the retail spectrum), and that decisions on what to carry and how to price it are made at the local level.
“We’re swimming upstream from a lot of companies,” says Olson. “We want to be the ones who are directly working with producers and making the food.” Another word he eschews is “vendors,” the industry term for a store’s supplier of goods. “They’re our partners, not just vendors,” he says. “Sometimes they’re a creamery in Illinois, sometimes it’s a juice maker just down the street. But everything you can buy in our store comes from a relationship and a community.”
This article appeared in the July, 2024 issue of Indianapolis Monthly magazine. Subscribe today.
