A new shop is coming to Dallas' Deep Ellum that's all about the fungi: Called Mushroom Street Farms, it's opening at 2929 Elm St., where it offers mushrooms in varieties ranging from fresh to tinctures to powders.
While currently in soft opening, it'll officially open March 29.
Mushroom Street Farms comes from entrepreneur Warren Gwartney and his wife, Andrea, who started growing mushrooms from their home in 2020. Warren, who does web and software development for small businesses, started growing mushrooms as a hobby. Now he maintains both as businesses.
“During the pandemic, I jumped down this YouTube rabbit hole and was interested in the process of growing mushrooms, so I set up a grow area in our house,” he says. “I don’t think this would have happened if it weren’t for the weirdness of the pandemic.”
At first, he was selling products to family, friends, and neighbors and posting on Facebook marketplace to gain customers. Soon after, he decided to open a mushroom farm in Arlington in an 800-square-foot space. By 2023, he was expanding to a 5,000-square-foot space with a lab and hand-built grow rooms. (It typically takes five-six weeks to grow and cultivate the mushrooms.)
Though the Deep Ellum storefront doesn't have an indoor farm like the Arlington location, it does have an apothecary with more than 80 herbs and spices and tea blends. And on the plus side, it's much closer to the Dallas Farmers Market, where they’ve been a vendor selling mushrooms and tinctures since September 2023— that's where business really picked up.
"Initially, we worked with another company that manufactured and bottled our tincture line, then fast forward, we started making all of our tinctures by hand and got our food license and permits to do food." Gwartney says.
Mushroom Street FarmsMushroom Street Farms
They sell a wide variety of fresh mushrooms in gourmet varieties that go beyond the standard white button, including shiitake, oyster, lion's mane, beech, king trumpet, and more, for $9 to $15 depending on variety, for a half-pound; order a full pound and they'll give you a little discount. (Not all varieties are in season all the time; for current availability, email info@mushroom.st.)
They also offer other mushroom items such as $10 mushroom jerky made from dehydrated mushrooms seasoned with Gwartney's BBQ rub (also offered in store), and $28 lion's mane mushroom ground coffee.
They do a big business on tinctures, which help with clarity, calm, and wellness, and their blue oyster mushroom, known as a source for antioxidants and improving heart health, is also a big seller.
Step inside and find an earthy atmosphere of plants on the walls and between shelves, a green grass wall, tables stocked with gifts and mushroom novelties, and a trippy wooden mushroom bench.
On the other side of the building, a reflection of the main space, they’ll have room for “youth exploration” classes for kids to learn all things mushrooms, and also for adult cooking classes.
To celebrate the grand opening week, they'll have various shop specials and mushroom tastings from March 29-April 5.
