OPEN FOR BUSINESS
Malta Farm & Garden serves farm, garden and pet supply needs
New local business Malta Farm & Garden is now open and serving the community’s farm, garden and pet supply needs.
Malta Farm & Garden, which opened in early October at 2712Rt. 9 in Malta, is a retail store offering a wide variety of products for customers’ farms, gardens, lawns, homes and pets of all kinds.
This new store is the fifth retail location created by the longtime farmerowned Millerton Co- op, which operates sites in Millerton, Claverack and Chatham in New York, as well as Great Barrington, Mass.
When the Chatham store in Columbia County started seeing great demand coming from Saratoga County, co- op leaders decided to expand north.
“We do a lot of deliveries in this market,” Malta Farm & Garden general manager Paul O’Neil, mentioning customers such as the harness track in Saratoga Springs as well as some of the region’s training facilities, thoroughbred farms and rodeos.
After a number of years searching for just the right spot, the co- op purchased the Route 9 property and began building last August.
Today, a 20,000-squarefoot store welcomes new
customers each day as Malta Farm & Garden establishes itself in the area. “We want to be part of the community,” O’Neil said, noting that the store is already amember of the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce and the Saratoga Springs Downtown Business Association.
O’Neil, who is a resident of Saratoga Springs, appreciates the small town atmosphere within Saratoga County. “Even though it’s a growing area and there’s a lot of people around here, the sentiment is a small town sentiment and a community sentiment,” he said.
Supporting the local economy is important to O’Neil and the rest of the co- op team, which hired area builders, electricians, excavators, landscapers and signmakers and at its latest location.
“We didn’t want to bring in crews from wherever. We wanted local people. We wanted the people that built it to take pride in the business,” he said, “and if we had a good relationship with them throughout the building process, they’re going to come in and shop with us.”
Since opening to thepublic earlier this month, Malta Farm & Garden has received great feedback from visitors, O’Neil said. “Just the first couple weeks we’ve been here, it was nice to see so many friendly faces in here, so many positive comments from the community.”
With each and every guest, Malta Farm & Garden aims to deliver superior customer service, O’Neil said, calling his staff members friendly and knowledgeable.
“Service will be the name of our game,” he said. “We really emphasize that.”
Looking ahead to the future, “I think there’s always a need for a local serviceoriented business like this that provides nice selection of products at fair prices,” O’Neil said, “and I’d like to think when somebody comes in here that they aren’t going to go anyplace in the world and get better service than we’re going to give.”
Malta Farm & Garden is open seven days a week, from8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday.
Product delivery is available.
This winter, Malta Farm & Garden plans to offer Christmas trees and holiday decorations.
In 2021, the shop plans to debut a new greenhouse.
The business will soon celebrate its opening at a ribbon cutting ceremony with the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce.
Following this event, O’Neil hopes to have a grand opening event next spring. More information about Malta Farm & Garden is available online at maltafarmandgarden. com and facebook.com/ MALTAFARMGARDEN. The store can be contacted by calling (518) 348- 6374.