Lantman’s Market Turns 100 (or so)
Busier family continues a long tradition of family ownership and operation of a store that is appreciated by so many.
By Catherine Goldsmith
The Hinesburg Record
How many times a week do you shop at Lantman’s Market? Once? Ten times? Do you ever shop and not bump into someone you know? Do you know any of the butchers or cashiers or the people who stock the shelves, or bring in the fresh produce? Have you gone there enough to have noticed “the rock” in the northwest corner? (A leftover piece of foundation from the old Hinesburgh Inn.)
Yes. We’re sure your answers were yes – because Lantman’s has been a part of this community for 100 years (according to its logo), but is actually entering its 104th year of operation.
It was opened in 1922 by Franklin County businessman W.E. (William) Lantman, when he purchased the building three houses south of the present location, which was then a general store run by A.I. Watson.
In February of 1926, William and sons purchased the old hotel property from I.M. Bobar and moved their store there in October of the same year. Today it’s quite different; it has changed a great deal in the intervening century.
The original two-story building on Route 116 had been a stagecoach stop and hotel, which grew to the east through various additions. One of the first improvements made by W.E. Lantman and his sons was to install a “lighting plant” to provide electric lighting that same year. Most private homes in rural Vermont would not have electricity until the 1940s, so the space must have seemed very bright to shoppers.
In the early 1930s William sold the store to his sons Harry and Lynn. They ran it as Lantman Brothers until the mid-1950s. In 1935, William Lantman’s widow Caroline still lived in an apartment above the store. One night, she raised the alarm when she saw flames coming from outbuildings. The garage, grain store and family sedan were a total loss even though firefighters came from Burlington and Shelburne to help put out the blaze.
The store in those days sold boots, coats, blankets, hardware, large electric appliances and even health and property insurance. Around 1931, Lantman’s joined the Independent Grocers Alliance and took 7th place in an IGA national baseball contest. Other IGA stores were later owned by the family in Richmond, Duxbury Corner and Waterbury.
Harry then sold his portion of the business to his son Howard, and Lynn sold his share to his son Douglas. These first cousins operated the store as “Lantman’s IGA.” Howard was a 1936 graduate of Hinesburg High School and a staff sergeant in the U.S. Air Force. Before the war, he managed Lantman’s Duxbury Corner store.
During wartime, families could apply for their gasoline rationing book at the store. A Burlington Daily News article in 1961 mentions that memorial contributions to a heart disease fund “can be left at the store.” The owners sponsored sports teams, especially adult league basketball, which was very popular in the 1970s. This generosity continued later under the ownership of the Busier family, with Brian and Bryce both involved with youth sports. Brian would donate to any Hinesburg organization that was helping the community.
Caroline (Katy) Lantman Wrigly, daughter of Howard and Lois, spoke with The Record about her family’s legacy. She grew up on CVU Road and remembers Tucker’s field being across the street before the new union high school was built. Her mother, of the Murray and Burritt families, graduated from UVM and taught school before marrying Howard. After the last of six children was born, Lois renewed her teaching license and taught at Hinesburg Community School (then Hinesburg Elementary School) for many more years.
Growing up, Katy would be asked to take the family car down to Lantman’s to fill it with gasoline at the pumps that were in front. Katy remembers that Brian Busier would sometimes stay with her family, not surprising since it was crowded at his home with eight siblings. Her dad, Howard, relied on Brian to help with whatever needed doing in the store.
All the floors in Lantman’s were painted wood back in the day, and it was a big job to repaint them every few years. Howard retired and sold his share to Doug Lantman in 1978. Doug and Betty (Riggs) worked side by side in the store for thirty-eight years. For some period of time, the store had a garden plot to grow potatoes and other vegetables off Charlotte Road where Green Street is now. Members of the family also served the town as clerk/treasurer and state representatives.
Katy remembers when Brian Busier started in the store and feels Brian, who died in 2022, made fantastic improvements to the business and the building over the decades.
Brian had an interesting history. He was born prematurely and weighed just 5 lbs., 6 oz. He played basketball in seventh and eighth grades, taught square dancing to kids when he was in high school, and over the years was an enthusiastic donor of his blood to the Red Cross.
Some called Brian “the mayor” of Hinesburg because he certainly knew everyone in town. He originally had hoped to become a schoolteacher but practicality won out over his plans. Having started as a stock clerk at the age of fourteen in 1969, over the years Brian learned the business inside out.
The Lantmans were like a second family, so it was no surprise that they were happy to sell the store to Brian and his wife Kathy in 1988. Brian doubled the size of the store from 6,500 to 16,500 square feet in response to a 40 percent increase in population. He also modernized business practices, streamlined the workspace and hosted a grand reopening in 1992. The newly wide-open store and south entrance were designed by Hinesburg architect Rob Bast, in close partnership with Brian and Randy Volk. The entire project was completed in six months, during which the store only closed for one day. The investment paid off in increased sales and several new lines of goods – baked goods, a deli and flowers. Brian won the Vermont Grocer Association’s “Grocer of the Year” award that year and was named “Single-Store Retailer of the Year” by C&S Wholesale Grocers in 2008.
Brian’s impact on Lantman’s can best be synthesized in this Yelp review from 2012: “Somehow Lantman’s maintains the delicate balance between customers looking for cheap, squishy white bread AND for artisan bakeries delivering multi-grain bread daily. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard a Chittenden County resident tell me they come to Lantman’s because it’s the only place that carries something special they want. A produce department that once cut up my vegetables while my arm was in a sling. Stock people that ask if they can help you find something. Cash registers being opened the minute it appears a customer might have to wait. And of course, the everyday event where the owner lends a hand to bag your groceries or load them into the car. That is a given”(reporter’s emphasis).
And here’s another one from a Middlebury shopper in 2016: “A small grocery store and they don’t have everything, but for the size the grocery store they have a lot of stuff. We noticed that they didn’t have every staple on our grocery trips so we mentioned a couple things we would like to see in the store. Next month our requests were met. The staff is nice and some of them even know me by name. The owner is constantly present and loves talking with the customers.”
And this year, from a visitor from Sherwood, Arizona, “This grocery store deserves a Michelin star or a James Beard Award – seriously. The deli sandwiches are phenomenal, packed with flavor and care. Every pre-made deli item I’ve tried has been an absolute delight. You can feel the love and quality in everything they make. I genuinely love this place!”
It’s no wonder that this small grocery store does more daily sales per square foot than most in the area. Hard work, service, loyal employees and personal relationships have made Lantman’s what it is.
After Brian died, sons Bryce and Kyle took over the business with longtime employee Barry Russell. Bryce’s daughters, Marlea (senior at CVU) and Gracie (sophomore at UMASS-Amherst), also can be seen at the registers many days, continuing the family tradition.
Bryce is less of a storyteller than his dad, but he is no less devoted to the store he calls “his baby.” When asked if Brian had taught him to start work at 4:30 a.m., he said no and that he had only started that practice during the pandemic five years ago. And there are so many moving pieces in the business, he has to get up that early.
Lantman’s now employs 77 people between stock receivers, cashiers, bakers, butchers, stockers, housekeeping staff and managers. Delivery trucks start lining up at the loading dock at 5:30 a.m. and the store receives five to six pallets a day just from their main distributor.
You can’t buy Lee Tires, Kyanize Floor Enamel, Bond radio tubes, or Hotpoint refrigerators at Lantman’s anymore, but you can buy eight types of lettuce for a salad or ten flavors of yogurt for a quick snack. You can buy frozen meals for a quick dinner, or even better, you can buy their fresh hot store-made meals for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Lantman’s has tried to evolve, tried to appreciate what all of us want.
And whether you shop there every day or once a year, Lantman’s is a big part of life in Hinesburg and, maybe because it has always been owned by families who ran it day in, day out, it is a friendly, comfortable place to chat with someone you haven’t seen in a bit.
A few years back Brian and Kathy Busier bought the Riggs farmhouse across from NRG as a potential site for an eventual new store. The possibility that Hannaford’s might come into town and then the pandemic put off those plans. Bryce and Kyle are musing as to whether, given the growth that’s coming, it might be time to begin to draw up plans for a new building.
So in 100 years Lantman’s could be quite a bit different. Chances are it won’t have a rock protruding through the corner floor. But it may well be family-owned and a friendly place to shop and see neighbors.