Genesee Sun

Jane’s Pantry Thriving after Almost a Year of Business

MOUNT MORRIS — Jane Oakes bustles around her shop, restocking candy, straightening bags of snack mix and saying “Hello” to customers. When asked how she’s doing, Jane replies “Busy,” with a slight smile that suggests she’s not exactly upset by it.

Jane runs Jane’s Pantry at 84 Main Street in Mount Morris, which opened at the end of last February. Her store is filled with local food items like Nunda Mustard, as well as old fashioned candy, bulk snacks, sprinkles and an entire section of gluten-free goods. Jane, a former Rochester City School District substitute teacher and Genesee Country Museum teacher, makes sure to have the items her customers ask for in stock, whether they’re healthy food, or guilty pleasures.

“I know that there were a lot of us in this area that would drive up to Rochester to get things that our local stores don’t carry,” says Jane. “With the price of gas, I thought it would be a good thing if we had something down here.”

Jane got her opportunity to open Jane’s Pantry through the downtown revitalization grant program. She applied for a small business grant, which helped fund her first batch of inventory as well as a cash register. Now, she makes it her mission to keep the shelves full of those hard-to-find items her customers crave.

“I’ve gotten in products the customers have asked for, and I’ve learned that some products I thought were a great idea really weren’t,” Jane says, laughing. “I’ve learned what my customer-base likes and will buy.”

Jane points to gelatin on one of her shelves and explains that even though it’s great gelatin, most people prefer to buy the name-brand boxed kind. She then points to a section of shelf dedicated to sprinkles.

“Now sprinkles,” she says, “people get excited by sprinkles because you can’t find decent sprinkles in the stores.”

Jane also says her customers have asked her to keep black licorice stocked, which she happily does.

“We kind of specialize in black licorice here,” she says. “I love black licorice. Those of us who like black licorice are ignored in other stores, so I want to make sure my customers are happy.”

Part of making sure customers are happy is having a variety of healthy foods for them to choose from in addition to candy and baking supplies.

“I have some stuff that’s so healthy, people haven’t even heard of it yet,” says Jane. “I have Kelapo coconut oil and people are just discovering that coconut oil is a brilliant thing to cook with. It has good cholesterol, a nice flavor and a good crisping power.”

In addition to providing customers with healthy options to better their lives, Jane also does her part in helping keep the environment healthy by running Jane’s Pantry as a bagless store. Jane urges her customers to either bring their own reusable shopping bags to the store, or to not use bags at all. For those who forget to bring a bag, Jane has a few paper ones for sale for a small fee.

While helping keep the environment safe is a big deal to Jane, so is seeing Mount Morris boom. As a Mount Morris resident, she wanted to be part of the revitalization. Now, almost a year after opening, Jane’s Pantry is a Mount Morris, and Livingston County, staple.