Patty's Farm Market remains on market but owner wouldn't mind reopening

Aspinwall business owner Patty Held is still coming to terms with selling the longtime produce market that she and her late husband, Bernie, built together after first meeting as teens.

The well-known entrepreneur is the name behind Patty’s Farm Market, the corner institution that served as an unofficial entrance into Aspinwall with its prime location on the corner of Delafield and Freeport roads.

The site is for sale, listed at $2 million through Howard Hanna Real Estate.

It went on the market in March with an initial asking price of $3 million.

“I miss talking to the customers. Some of the most wonderful people came in,” Held said. “Retirement isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”

Don't forget #MothersDay pic.twitter.com/gcw3QRhIVX

— Pattys farm mkt (@PattysFarmMkt) May 3, 2016

Patty and Bernie, who met in Sharpsburg and raised a family in their Main Street home, owned several small markets — including Red Barn Produce and Union Fruit Auction in Pittsburgh’s Strip District — before settling in Aspinwall.

“My husband was in the produce business his whole life. His dad was a huckster before him and he’d go around yelling out ‘potatoes’ and ‘tomatoes,’ selling his stuff to restaurants and grocery stores,” she said.

The elder Held traveled between Meadville and Kittanning and back to the Strip terminal to sell fruits and vegetables, teaching young Bernie the ropes.

Selling the Aspinwall market, which opened in the late 1990s, is bittersweet for Held. Clearing out her corner lot that was for so long bustling with eager shoppers is not sitting well.

In fact, letting go of the business wasn’t in her plans.

It was a decision spurred by Bernie’s death in 2017, a series of strong floods in 2018 and covid-19 in 2020.

She won’t let the shop go to just anyone. Held said she is seeking the right fit for the space and, if “we don’t sell by March, we might re-open.”

Don't forget #MothersDay pic.twitter.com/gcw3QRhIVX

— Pattys farm mkt (@PattysFarmMkt) May 3, 2016

Listing agent Leigh Friday said the coveted location has stirred interest with buyers. At just 0.24 acres, what the space lacks in size it makes up for in location.

“It’s a charming entrance into the town,” Friday said, citing the tall lampposts and the adjacent stone welcome sign erected by the borough.

“A specialty boutique would benefit from the highly visible location.”

It’s just a short walk to the borough’s busy commercial corridors along Brilliant and Commercial avenues, or to the Allegheny RiverTrail Park.

The property at 103 Delafield Road has two separate structures, one an open-air space with an overhang that could provide shade for bistro tables, Friday said, and the former market that would make a great home for retail, food or other uses.

The site is commercially zoned and has 10 parking spaces.

Friday said a niche coffee shop or a bistro would fit nicely into the environment.

“A community center for the town could be charming,” she said.

Held said she has some ideas of what she’d like to see settle into the former market, but wouldn’t reveal some “big name” companies that have inquired about the space.

For now, she still sits with the fond memories of the hustle and bustle that came with the changing inventory of each season.

“We had a spring and fall flower season, we had pumpkins and Christmas trees,” she said. “You can’t imagine how busy we were and the fun we had. I just have the best memories of my husband laughing with the customers.”