Fresh local food, as well as organic groceries, will be coming our way in 2013, courtesy of Healthy Living Market and Cafe. The three owners of this family-run Vermont business are excited to move into the Saratoga Springs area. The store has just begun construction in the former J.C.Penney space in the Wilton Mall.

"We're so pleased to be here," said Eli Lesser-Goldsmith, one of the owners and acting chief operating officer of Healthy Living, at a press conference today. "This project has been three years in the making. We're excited to bring our beautiful and dynamic concept to the capital region."

Katy Lesser, Lesser-Goldsmith's mother, started the South Burlington, Vt., Healthy Living Market and Cafe in 1986, when health food was a new and tiny industry, she said.

"Health-food stores were strange, dark little places then," she said.

Her own vision led to a full-service supermarket, cafe, and learning center, which worked with local farmers and focused on Vermont agriculture. That store employs 150, and Lesser plans to hire 140 for the Saratoga store.

The market will offer local, organic, and natural groceries; fresh, organic, and local produce; artisan bread; and "a world of cheese." The cafe has an eclectic menu made fresh daily, along with a barista area.

The Learning Center holds cooking and wellness demonstrations and classes. Lesser's daughter, Nina Lesser-Goldsmith, is the third co-owner and directs the center, having attended culinary school.

"We choose Saratoga Springs because it has lots of growth, and is such a vibrant, exciting community," said Nina Lesser-Goldsmith. "Also, the city is surrounded by farms."

--Jennie