Pick your own produce at this grocer

The Farmery is where farm meets grocery store, with customers being able to step inside and pick their own produce.

Industrial designer Ben Greene's The Farmery combines a greenhouse and local food mart. Half the sales should come from a “u-pick” set-up, with the rest from local, artisanal goods in store, according to a report.

Greene's business model takes transportation and distributing out of the equation for grocery retail. Shipping, packing, and handling are abandoned.

Instead, there's a series of stacked shipping containers, vertical growing panels and hydroponic tech on site with the farm on the second level. Customers can see the food growing above the shopping area giving them a multi-sensory experience.

A 160-sq.-ft Mini-Farmery (below photo) is currently open in downtown Durham, N.C., while a full-scale version at 7,000 sq. ft. will be open in late 2014.

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