Meet Caroline Weaver, the Queen of Shopping Local
This month, we chatted with Caroline Weaver, the owner of Locavore Variety Store at 434 Sixth Avenue, about the second edition of The Locavore Guide, changes to the store over its first year-and-a-half in business in the Village, and the importance of shopping local.
Caroline Weaver outside of Locavore Variety Store, located at 434 Sixth Avenue
Tell me a little bit about the Locavore Variety Store and the philosophy behind it.
We sell products made mostly within 100 miles of New York City — all by independently owned brands. It's very much a general store. We sell everything from toothpaste to crystal hair accessories to garden gloves.
We're trying to show that local goods aren’t just cottage industries and handmade things. It means everything. I mean, it's actually manufactured stuff. We sell drain unclogger, Wiffle balls, and pencils. A lot of people don't realize how much stuff is made right in our own backyard.
The Locavore Guide — a new version of which comes out this week — how does that fit into the picture?
The newest edition of The Locavore Guide to Shopping NYC
The guide came first. Well, the online directory came first. The shop is meant to be a demonstration of the lifestyle I'm trying to show people through the guide. The book was always part of the plan. That was the thing I wanted to do first, because I'm an analog person and I really love a physical book.
I took inspiration from yellow pages and shopping guides from the 1960s. I have a huge collection of old New York City guides, and they're organized, like the Zagat guide, to be a tool to help people find things more easily. People can use the guide to find something hyper-specialized without having to go to like the ninth page of Google. And they're chosen by an actual person who's an expert in these things.
The guide has a little bit of everything, not just like cool or legacy shops. It's got a bunch of wild cards that even the most experienced shoppers may never have heard of. I'm pretty proud of that.
And what do you see as the relationship between the online directory and the guidebook?
Well, the online version is very much unbiased. The online directory houses every possible independent retail shop that I've found. There are over 14,000 listings. The book stands as the curated version of that. It's the stuff that I've deemed to be the extra special stuff, the particularly interesting stuff, the stuff that's only found in New York City. There's even a whole guide to the Union Square greenmarket included.
Locavore Variety Store
Your store has been open for a year and a half.
Yeah, almost.
How has the store changed over time?
We've learned so much about what our customers want from us. We have customers who come in because they buy, like, a brand of coffee that we have every single week. We have customers who come in because we're their place for gifts when they don't have a good idea and need to see what's out there.
It's truly been a pleasure to see what people utilize this space for. In general, they like what we thought they would like — which is just really good, utilitarian goods that are well designed, that cost what they should cost, and are a mindful choice for somebody who cares about the things that are in their home.
What is special about the Village as a micro-market in the city?
Well, I've specifically looked for shops in this neighborhood, specifically, Greenwich Village, not the West Village. I live in the East Village, and I wanted a shop in a neighborhood that already knows what it is. It has an identity as just being a genuine, historic neighborhood that's in the middle of a lot of other neighborhoods.
Here on Sixth Avenue, people are always passing by —they're on the way to the subway, they’re on the way to dinner, they're on their way to school.
I wanted to be in a place with the widest demographic of people, where there are as many locals as there are tourists, and it's truly just a mix of everybody. I used to have a shop on the Lower East Side, and it is so much more varied up here than it ever was down there.
And with the second edition of the book, how has it changed since its first edition?
The second edition is longer. There's about 110 new shops. We had about 20 from the last edition that have closed, we removed them and have added a bunch of new ones.
We also added some new features. We have an alphabetized list of Amy Sedaris's favorite shops and had an organization in Chinatown make us a guide about Chinatown and their favorite places. We have a map of that part of Orchard Street that's become a real hub for local fashion. A friend who is a Hasidic rabbi did our kosher grocery section with his wife, and they take great pride in recommending their favorite shops in Crown Heights.
I think I got a little sassier when it came to all my little fun facts and tips that I included. I feel a little more comfortable with our audience now. The guide is a better version of last year's, which was the intent. People know how to use it — the design is recognizable and the content just gets better every year.
So a part of changing the content around is bringing outside editors to curate their own guide?
Yeah, I think so. I mean, I am technically an expert on this stuff, but I don't know everything.
Caroline’s ever-popular Instagram account
You've found success on social media as a NYC small business savant — How do you view the relationship between your store, your guide, and your audience online?
I see it as one circular ecosystem. A lot of the customers come in because they saw us on social media, and they want to see what we do here, then find the guidebook when they get here. Everything kind of feeds together. And that was my intent! My goal always is just to remind people that shopping locally can be really, really fun. It's good for us to find things that are different from what everybody else has, because everyone buys the same things from the same Instagram ads.
It was never my plan to open a shop so soon. I had to be savvy and realize that I needed to put more eggs in the basket of whatever's working. For me lately, it's social media and having a physical place for people to come to has been tremendously useful.
The shop is as much marketing as it is a functioning job. I make these quarterly videos about how much money it takes to keep the shop afloat, and how much money we're not making every month, that is meant to be a reminder to people of just how hard this is. It's meant for the sake of transparency, but I see that as a tool and an asset being able to talk about that stuff and being able to leverage that.
I have a few rapid fire questions to close the interview. What is the perfect gift for the holidays that you have in store right now?
Can I pick two things? A food thing and a non-food thing?
Yeah!
One thing that I love, love, love, love talking about, and that I just brought to a friend's house recently is this jar of salted caramel sauce. (Cara-Sel Sauce: Arden, NY) It's beautiful.
The other thing that we are obsessed with are these pickle ornaments. (Glass Pickle Ornament: Philadelphia, PA) We had them made for us. They're solid glass, so if you drop this on the floor, probably nothing bad is gonna happen. They're very durable. And people have really flipped over these. And it's not very expensive. It's $28.
Right now our holiday strategy is to just go for things that seem really frivolous and seem really luxurious but cost less than $50, because I think right now — this particularly stressful holiday season — that's what people want.
What is the last item in the store that you’ve personally used?
The toothpaste in question
Toothpaste. I used this tube of toothpaste this morning. (Tooth Builder: Narberth, PA)
I hope so!
Actually, that's an absolute lie, the last thing — well, I did use this toothpaste this morning — but the last thing I used was this pencil. (Baseball Scoring Pencils: Jersey City, NJ)
I use these pencils every day. They're made for baseball scoring, but I use them for my regular work. It's a really nice soft pencil that's made in Jersey City by General Pencil Company, the oldest pencil factory in America. I designed them years and years ago for my old shop, and I'm delighted to get to sell them here.
Is there something that you use the most often?
Oh, Kiss-Off’s stain stick, which is also made by the General Pencil Company. (Kiss-Off Stain Stick: Jersey City, NJ) I use that all the time. I'm always spilling coffee on myself. We're not lying when we say that it got sharpie out of Emily's shirt! It really did. We have it on camera.
I trust you.
I’m really not lying. It's the truth.
What’s your best selling item?
By a long shot, it’s this Cannoli Bar, which is the candy bar that is on our wall. (Cannoli Bar: Farmingdale, NY) It tastes like a cannoli. Not only is it the best seller in our shop, we are the best seller of Cannoli Bar in America. We sell them in these lovely bundles — it's meant to be a host gift.
Before I opened this store, I discovered Cannoli Bar in a bagel shop in Dyker Heights. I bought two cases of them and made these candy bundles that I brought to people's holiday parties. I just showed up at every party I was invited to with a stack of Cannoli Bars tied with a beautiful ribbon. People were really confused.
It’s a good gift!
And it's not very expensive. People are totally delighted by it. It's more fun than wine. So, that's my party trick.
I could go on. Let me tell you about everything in the store!
Well, thank you for —
Of course! Thank you for asking good questions.
The 2026 edition of The Locavore Guide to Shopping Local NYC is available at Locavore Variety Store on November 6th and November 7th at other local retailers. Go to thelocavore.com to find out more.