Natick family has cornered the market since 1938

Once a small produce stand, today a well-stocked market and garden center, Tilly & Salvy’s is a place where neighbors meet while shopping for dinner, plants, or pumpkins.

Owner Richard “Rick’’ Ciccarelli, 48, grandson of founders Matilda (Tilly) and Salvatore (Salvy) Ciccarelli, grew up working at the store, built on the property in 1951. Ciccarelli’s wife, Wendi, an assistant teacher, and their daughter Rebecca, 22, and son Ryan, 20, help out when they can. Even though Uncle Bob and Uncle Fran, two of the founding couple’s three sons (Ciccarelli’s father, Richie, died in 1964), have retired, they stop in almost daily.

Just as his grandparents did, Ciccarelli keeps an open bag of pretzel rods on the counter for kids to nibble. Many fruits and vegetables come from local farms; you’ll find everything you need for supper: pork chops, ground beef, chicken breasts, green beans, broccoli, spinach, cauliflower. You can pick up a head of lettuce, tomatoes, and bag of radishes for an impromptu salad, baguettes from Iggy’s Bread of the World, and aged cheddar for a mac and cheese. Fresh eggs come from A. Ferrucci & Son in Milford, pizza dough from a North End bakery, fish from nearby Dolphin Seafood Restaurant.

Tilly & Salvy’s customers are both fiercely loyal and eating at home more. Ciccarelli thinks that rather than loading up weekly at the supermarket, his customers are trying to eat more healthfully and shopping more frequently. To that end, they swing by on their way home from work (the store’s rotisserie chickens and prepared entrees are draws) and they know they’ll find a parking space and get in and out of the store quickly. Bulk shoppers may have switched their allegiances years ago, but the single-person and small-family shopper, as well as the last-minute cook, seem to prefer the homey, navigable atmosphere here.

“It’s really fresh and reasonably priced,’’ says shopper Gary Sharp, a relative newcomer in town.

Sarah Mead of Natick has been coming in about once a week, mostly for produce but also for bread, cheese, and plants, for over 24 years. “I love the people here,’’ she says. “I also love the fact that they know me.’’ Ciccarelli and manager Scott McGilvray know most regulars by name.

They also know the local growers, such as Ward’s Berry Farm in Sharon, Standard Orchards in Hudson, Dover’s Powisset Farm, and the Natick Community Organic Farm. Jim Ward, co-owner of Ward’s Berry Farm, says: “We sell [Tilly’s] almost everything we grow.

“Buying local is all the rage,’’ says Ward, “but Rick was making that effort years ago.’’

Tilly’s is also a place where area start-ups have found a willing buyer. Cocoapelli Chocolates, Sassy Sauces, T.T. Buds Popcorn, and Effie’s Homemade Oatcakes have done well here.

“If it’s something I can use, I buy it,’’ says Ciccarelli. He brews and sells Framingham’s Hogan Brothers Coffee, features homemade pies, brownies, and shortcakes baked by Natick resident Kathy Mahoney, and carries challah from Cheryl Ann’s of Brookline. Newer lines include Concord’s To Die For dips and spreads, decorated cookies from Starlight Creatives of Lynn, and Giovanna Gelato of Newton.

Ciccarelli also employs dozens of Natick kids. Teenage girls work the cash registers and neighborhood boys help outside in the garden center, unload food deliveries, and stock the shelves. They do the heavy lifting during pumpkin and Christmas tree seasons.

In many ways, Tilly & Salvy’s identifies with the farmers and purveyors they buy from. “People say they like buying from local people,’’ says Ciccarelli. “It’s why I like to support local products. We’re all in the same boat.’’

Tilly & Salvy’s Bacon Street Farm, 100 Bacon St., Natick, 508-653-4851, www.baconstreetfarm.com.