WHO WE ARE
Tom Leonard’s Farmer’s Market is a family-owned business that believes in supporting local Virginia farms whenever possible. Because we source only the best meats, seafood, fruits and vegetables directly from our network of family farmers, ranchers, growers, and docks you’ll find the freshest produce in town at a terrific price!
OUR FAMILY STORY
Tom Leonard’s history can be traced back to the early 1920s, when Charles Leo Leonard started Clover Farms Dairy in Norwalk, Connecticut. It was a state-of-the-art dairy by the standards of the time – with a pasteurizing and bottling plant, and later on, fresh milk delivered daily by trucks that had plastic cows on the front that “mooed” for the neighborhood children.
In the late sixties, Stew Leonard, Charles’s son, built a retail dairy store where children could watch milk being bottled while mothers did their shopping in a farmer’s market atmosphere. In December 1969, Stew Leonard’s opened its doors – a 17,000 square foot store carrying just eight items, and has remained a family business to this day.
Stew’s son, Tom Leonard, opened the second Stew Leonard’s in Danbury Connecticut in 1991, and then decided to plant his roots in Richmond and opened his own store in Short Pump on March 9, 2004. His son Tom Jr. (TJ Leonard) joined the family business in 2014 and is helping to get Tom Leonard’s Farmer’s Market ready for the next generation of Leonards!
AN AWARD WINNING EXPERIENCE
Since opening, Tom Leonard’s Farmer’s Market has earned multiple awards as “The Freshest Produce In Richmond,” “Virginia’s Best Farmer’s Market,” “One Of The Best Local Grocery Stores,” “The Best Place to Buy a Christmas Tree,” “The Best Place to Visit Santa,” and “Favorite Farmer’s Market.”
Each of these awards are a result of an ongoing focus on quality, value, and a belief that the customer is always right.