When store on wheels stops, Gloucester residents get to shop

GLOUCESTER -- The boxy old plumber's truck, painted silver with large black lettering, has been tricked out to be eye-catching on the outside, stylish inside, with flowers in buckets at the entrance. Former South End retailer Ned Hand, with her impeccably cool touch, has filled this store on wheels with specialty and locally raised foods, and parked it just off Grant Circle here.

Ned's Mobile Groceteria seems to knock out all its customers, including 4-year-old Cole Ferguson, who was visiting the shop recently. "It's like a fancy grocery store but it's in a truck," he exclaimed.

That, of course, delighted Hand. But she's no stranger to happy customers. As owner of Fresh Eggs, a popular home furnishings store that specialized in unusual and highly stylized items, Hand, 39, displayed a good eye.

Now she's taken that eye to her groceteria, complete with an original refrigeration system, compliments of her partner of 23 years, Marcel Albanese. Daily loaves come from Alexandra's Bread in Gloucester. Flavored salts and sugars are from Didi Davis Food in Ipswich; Valley View Farm goat cheeses from Topsfield; Sasquatch Smokehouse trout, salmon, mussels, shrimp, are also from Gloucester (the fisherman told her, "I can't smoke fast enough for you"); fresh ravioli from Lily's Pasta in Everett; and double-yolk eggs from Hardy's Hatchery in Essex. As the season evolves, more local farms will fill Groceteria's shelves.

Specialty imports include charcuterie, Italian pasta and olive oils, chocolates, white anchovies, jams and preserves, Parmagiano-Reggiano, an aged gouda that disappears quickly, French foie gras, and fancy olives. Indian foods are tucked onto the shelves of dry goods. On a tiny counter are foods to sample. The compact interior resembles an urban party where everyone's hanging out in the apartment kitchen.

Hand works daily, except on Mondays; her hours are variable, depending on weather and when the produce runs out.

In one month, word's gotten out that Hand's truck is worth a detour. Still, even the entrepreneur is surprised how the grocery store unfolded.

Last Thanksgiving, while she still had her South End shop, she visited her sister in Ireland. Every day the milkman or the pastry man or the egg man or the soda man would stop by the house to offer wares. Hand was charmed by the simple life.

She returned home and made an impulsive decision. She decided she didn't want to go through one more Christmas season, so she put up signs announcing, "Thanks for everything, it's time to retire," and closed on Dec. 20. She sold the business to Kristen Gaughan, who has reopened as Urban Living Studio.

Hand's original plan was to stay at home in Gloucester, spend four months in Tulum, Mexico, where she and Albanese own some land and want to build a vacation home, then return to the North Shore for a summer of friends and lobsters and boating and walking with the couple's two dogs.

It didn't turn out that way. She began working with the new owner of her former shop, to help her get going. Spending more time in Gloucester, without frequent trips into Boston -- where she could buy all the provisions she wanted -- Hand noticed that she couldn't get top-quality food items at home. One night, hanging out with friends, she suddenly asked, "What do you guys think of a mobile gourmet store?" She remembers it this way: "Everyone thought it was awesome, this is great, and ideas started flying around."

It could have been one of those evenings when you go to bed and nothing comes of it. Hand knew better.

Three days later, on his way to F.Kia, his design studio in South Boston, Albanese spotted a truck for sale and bought it on the spot. Because he designs urban living and commercial spaces, he became excited about the prospect of fixing up the truck. By the time he went to bed that night, he'd gutted it completely. Working nights and weekends, he took almost four months to complete the project.

He used reclaimed fir wainscoting from an old Boston warehouse for the floor, Spanish cedar for the refrigeration/freezer case. Shelving went in for dry goods, gray chalkboard lines the rear doors (this is where Hand's offerings are listed), a sink with running water was installed, along with lighting, accessible stairs on the front and back of the truck, a portable credit card system and scale, and vintage locker baskets on the outside. The truck was painted, permits were obtained, and the couple found a spot to park it. In a red chef's jacket, Dana Jones, a graduate of the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts, drives the truck and helps sell the goods.

Hand has been embraced by the community. "At 9:20 on Mother's Day," she says, "every teenage boy in Gloucester on his bike was outside the truck, waiting in line to get flowers for their mothers."

Many thought Hand could not really make a go of it. But average purchases range from $80 to $100, and the summer residents haven't even arrived. Hand has begun to take the truck on the road by special request. One customer asked if Hand could drive to a friend's house in Magnolia. He gave her $50 and a birthday card and Hand drove to the woman's house. The delighted and surprised recipient ended up spending another $100.

Capeannweb.com's community message board has been abuzz. One entry reads, "A miniature version of a shop in Soho. Very high-quality items well-presented . . . . She'll need a trailer annex soon." Another writes, "The eggplant spread, smoked gouda, and prosciutto/ricotta ravioli went home with us, as did some of the little fresh marinated anchovies. Yum!"

And this: "As our lives speed up, we need more little joints like Ned's to remind us we're all human."

Ned's Mobile Groceteria is parked in Gloucester on Route 127 (also called Washington Street) near the junction at Poplar, just off Grant Circle, 978-290-9800.