High praise for Lurgan’s High Street Harvest

The success of Lurgan farm shop, High Street Harvest is down to its whole team, from the owners, Johnny and Glenda Ruddell, through to their teams across the entire business, ultimately leading to recent awards success.

With over 20 years on the high street, the aptly-named High Street Harvest has maintained the promise of bringing their harvest to the high street.

Establishing a fruit shop in 2002, it was a passion project for Johnny and Glenda Ruddell who both left traditional office jobs to follow their desire to do something different.

Johnny’s heart lies in farming and growing vegetables, while Glenda supports the shop, running her florists, Lavendar Lane Florist next door to High Street Harvest.

“Johnny and I were only dating a few years, I was in telesales after university while Johnny was almost finished a PhD. He was offered a job and rang me soon after asking if I wanted to start a fruit shop,” said Glenda.

“I jumped at it. To be honest, I hated my job, getting no appreciation for working long hours to clear up accounts from previous employees who had left. We were told of a man who was hoping to retire, so that weekend we sat opposite what was Ernie McKane’s shop at 42 High Street in Lurgan, counting the customers and trying to judge if it was a ‘busy wee shop’.

“We talked to Ernie and Vera, who worked with him, and fell in love with the adventure it would be. It turned into long hours, but when you do what you love, it isn’t work.

“Johnny did the market and went to the market with Ernie a few times to see the ropes. Johnny’s brothers had fruit shops too, so there was plenty of advice.”

Starting out in the small fruit shop, Johnny and Glenda soon realised they could develop the store and grow it into something bigger. With Glenda’s flair for flowers, they moved to 48 High Street and in September 2004 opened Lavendar Lane Florist and a slightly larger fruit shop.

Having married in February 2004, they welcomed their first child in 2007.

“Our first child has medical issues with a lifelong condition and is ventilator-dependent at night,” explained Glenda. “This made me choose to be a stay-at-home mum for a few years while we figured out how to do our new life.

“I suggested closing the flower shop but Johnny said he would keep it going himself. He quickly learnt to buy flowers and we had a good team to come into place to allow all this to work.”

The business continued to grow for Johnny and Glenda and the opportunity arose for them to buy a larger building, and in 2012 they made their third and final move to 54 High Street in Lurgan. It was also this year they welcomed their third son.

“This shop evolved over the years, as did our family and we renovated the shop in the last two years and made some very impressive changes, with some more on the cards over the next few years as well,” said Glenda.

Standing at 135 sq metres, Johnny and Glenda plan to increase this by 50% in the next two years.

Living above the shop, Glenda describes their home as “quite crazy” with their “three amazing boys and two beautiful girls aged from 16 to 4”.

Growing their own vegetables, this is one of the areas where they have come into their own, harvesting the crop and having it on the shelf within an hour of leaving the field. They guarantee fresh produce for their customers, who appreciate the shop’s literal undertaking of the ‘from the field to the fork’ ethos.

Growing a variety of potatoes, including Maris Piper, Golden Wonder, Dunbar Standards, Pinks and Blues and Markies, they also grow cabbages, parsley, celery, leeks, beetroot, cauliflowers, pumpkins, carrots and parsnips amongst many others. They proudly boast of having very little waste, with vegetables that are oversized or aesthetically unpleasing being passed to the two kitchens on their premises and prepped for sale or cooked to go on sale in the large range of dinners they sell.

“We have two kitchens, one is primarily for cooking ready-meals at excellent value with no added preservatives, leaving it as home-cooked as can be,” said Glenda. “We do cooked veg, prepare raw veg etc all for the convenience of our customers, many use these for elderly people or working mums to have handy meals in the evening.

“The other kitchen is raw food or ready-to-eat, it produces a range of salads, dressings and pastas, as well as cut fruit and sandwiches. We have our own juicing machine, where customers can watch the oranges be squeezed as they fill a bottle of juice, which is delicious and very popular.”

Glenda added that Johnny really enjoys farming, particularly the novelty of farming on the high street.

“It gives real credibility to calling ourselves a farm shop, because the backyard of the shop is literally our farmyard,” she said.

With a team of 18 staff across their Field Team, Kitchen Team, Store & Wholesale and Shop Floor Team, High Street Harvest works within the community of Lurgan, supporting local charities with raffle prizes, as well as local community groups with dinners and events they run to help those in need in the community.

“Our staff are like family and they want the shop to succeed and this is why we have this success,” added Glenda.

“Our customers feel the warmth of our staff and their love for their job, and they know this is more than just a farm shop. You can see by reading our reviews the love of our serving staff. Our loyal customers are essential to us and they know they are listened to, when they request or place orders for existing or new products.”

Describing themselves as fortunate to do what they love, Glenda added the business has been very well received in the community and now depended upon, allowing the business to survive and thrive in the last 20 years, with ambitions to continue to grow with the next generation.

It was this dedication and commitment to their community, along with the farm to fork ethos and quality of their produce that helped secure their Retailer of the Year Northern Ireland award at the recent Farm Shop and Deli Show 2024. They were also placed in the top three of 14 finalists across the UK for Best Large Farm Shop and were Highly Commended as a farm shop in the UK, all of which Glenda said was such an honour.

Judges had high praise for the business, stating there is a “wonderful focus on produce with impactful merchandising and ultra fresh dug/picked today fruit and veg”.

‘To receive the accolade is such an honour and really shows the staff they are recognised and appreciated’

They added that the “focus on food waste is first class with nothing going to waste, benefiting the environment as well as the commercials. Plus 20% growth in the current climate is extremely good”.

“Really great evidence of the field to fork ethos in practice with own produce on the shelf in one hour. Love the approach of vegetables being used in the kitchen to ensure full crop is used. Wonderful and varied testimony from customers,” added the judges.

“To receive the accolade is such an honour and really shows the staff they are recognised and appreciated,” said Glenda.

“It is amazing that we were shortlisted over many other farm shops in Northern Ireland, all doing amazing jobs too, so it was a surprise and an honour to be recognised as Highly Commended and in the top three farm shops in the UK – this statement blows me away.

“We have had many personal challenges, especially the birth of our first son, along with lots of other things, but we live and breathe the shop, it’s not work, it’s our life. Our customers are mostly from country areas and they know we are here to serve the community.”

TO READ THE FULL HIGH STREET HARVEST FEATURE IN THE JUNE-JULY ISSUE OF NEIGHBOURHOOD RETAILER, CLICK HERE