Sitting alone in a residence hall bedroom after a long night of studying or partying, students often find themselves searching for a snack.
Many sites exist for patrons in search of a tiny morsel of eats in Dinkytown, Stadium Village and other University areas.
But this year’s readers have chosen Harvard Market at 602 Washington Ave. S.E. as their favorite grocery venue.
“Wow, that’s fantastic,” said Brad Mateer, owner of Harvard Market and Harvard Market East. “We appreciate the honor.
Mateer became the original shop’s fourth owner just more than two years ago. He bought the business from an 83-year-old man who had owned it for 34 years.
Harvard Market East became his just over a year ago. He has no further plans for expansion at this time.
Both stores have long histories in Stadium Village — the original has been in existence since 1904 and Harvard Market East since the 1950s.
Though the Stadium Village area is seeing some chain stores like McDonald’s and Taco Bell moving into the area, Mateer said he doesn’t think the specialty shops will disappear.
“In a small-business situation there is a lot of pride in ownership of your own place — the owners put a lot of effort into it,” he said. “The mass chains look at the bottom line and if they’re not going to produce, they’re out of there.”
Mateer said the store will continue working hard to serve students’ needs in the future.
— Andrew Tellijohn