Green Grocer Plea

Shop at this Greenville Avenue grocer if you know what's good for you

Green Grocer on Greenville Avenue sells the most local produce money can buy.

Photo courtesy of Green Grocer

Indie supermarket Green Grocer is facing dire straits and would really really like it if you would come by to shop. The Greenville Avenue store has one of the best collections of local and sustainable goods, but it needs more customers or else it won't survive.

Co-owner Cassie Green sent out a note to friends and customers, expressing gratitude and then laying out the situation.

"Our little shop is at a critical point," she says. "We have certainly gotten busier with customers since we opened, but we have not yet been able to outpace our expenses with our sales. We spend every day working to make the shop better, more functional and easier to use. But what we really need is support."

Green and her husband, Gary Stephens, founded Green Grocer in Chicago, then opened the second branch on Greenville Avenue in 2012. Their inventory has evolved to accommodate customer requests, but they've always focused on the things an au courant foodie claims to want: organic, sustainable and non-GMO goods and locally raised meats. The lineup includes local beer, such as the newest summer beers from Community, Sundial and Razzy.

They partner with local food delivery company Artizone, and their produce is about as local as you can get.

"We offer Dallas-grown produce from Paul Quinn College and from grower Eat the Yard," Green says. "You can get true organic local produce, which you can't buy at any other stores, except Urban Acres or a farmers market. And all the meat we carry has been pasture-raised and grass-fed."

The couple has learned some instructive lessons about what makes Dallas tick, and how it's different from other big cities.

"From what we have seen, many people of Dallas do value an independent, locally owned grocery store that focuses on the highest quality food and supports local growers and producers," Green says. "I know I personally do and I think there are many folks out there who see it as an important part of the city's business and community landscape.

"But it's been different from the Chicago store, where there's nothing else nearby, and people might walk four or five blocks to come in," she says. "Dallas is more driven toward convenience."

The store does have its group of regulars who use it to do their entire food shopping, but Green stresses that it wouldn't take that much to keep them afloat.

"The difference that keeps us going versus not isn't huge," she says. "An extra visit a month creates a massive difference. Every customer, every purchase counts. That's the beauty of a small business — you all matter."

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Market News

Small specialty grocer in Celina is a go-to for imported foods

Di Mantzios Greek & Italian Gourmet Market

There's a gourmet shop in downtown Celina offering imported European foods: Called Di Mantzio’s Greek and Italian Gourmet Market, it's a small grocery and cafe at 204 E. Pecan St., Ste. C, where it's bringing in goods you might not find elsewhere in town.

Owner Vasilios Mantzios is a native of Greece and former NATO military serviceman who moved to the U.S. in 2008. Missing the foods he'd enjoyed in Greece and Italy, he started a booth at the Frisco Fresh Market in 2015 selling olive oils, Balsamic dressing, olives, and Mediterranean salt. In late 2024, he made the move to open the storefront in Celina (coincidentally down Pecan Street from Mangiamo Italian Market & Deli, another highly personal deli and market, making pecan Street a fun destination for a foodie field trip).

Di Mantzio's carries olive oils, pizza, cheese, charcuterie boards, flour, refrigerated meals, and meatballs with a Greek red sauce, made from a family recipe from Mantzios' aunts and their grandmothers. He also imports marinated lamb and beef meatballs from Greece.

"I only have things that I would put on my table to personally eat — I pick out my items by the quality because I don't want people to have issues with the food," Mantzios says. "I have my mother test everything, so if you pass her, you're in the store."

While he does offer Greek foods such as a recent special with beef kebabs and pita bread, there's a big demand for Italian items. He has a big selection of cheese: parmigiano reggiano, feta, mozzarella, and cheese from Il Forteto. Dry goods include Molino Paolo Mariani Manitaly flour, Caputo gluten-free flour, and Hellenic Farms and Lia extra virgin olive oil.

Mantzios prioritizes small, family-owned businesses because they enjoy what they're providing to customers and value quality.

Di Mantzios Greek & Italian Gourmet MarketDi Mantzios

On the prepared food front, he does pizza using a wood-fired crust imported from Pizza Food Love in Italy, delivered to the shop every three weeks. The base can be topped with ingredients from Tuscany, Italy for a truly authentic experience. More prepared foods are one of the biggest requests he gets from customers, and it's a category he's continuing to expand, as well as adding wine and beer.

They also have cakes and desserts such as cannoli, baklava, Greek rice pudding, French macarons, and gelato from Gelatys.

The interior is neatly organized, with refrigerated foods as well as Greek and European decor such as pestle and mortar, a gladiator helmet, and Greek and Italian flags pinned to the walls.

Mantzios thrives from the personal contact he gets with customers, and they find him equally charming as well.

"The bulk of my customers come from Prosper and Celina, and Celina is the number one growing city with people coming from all around who can appreciate what we are doing," Mantzios says.

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