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New Acorn manager setting his sights on future growth

Mark Spina has been the new manager at Acorn Farmers’ Market & Café since June.

by Marsha Chartrand

A mid-life career change led Mark Spina to several other life changes, including a move to Manchester last year.

“I had worked as an engineer for 23 years,“ he explains, “and on a Thursday morning I went in and soon learned I didn’t have a job anymore. My position had been outsourced.“

Calling around to other contacts in the field, Mark soon realized that that was a common practice in engineering. “That when I knew I didn’t want to stay on in the profession,” he says.

Mark and his partner started looking for a place to live and in June 2021 they found 12 acres in Manchester, where they’re now raising their blended family (along with four cows!). He started out working at the Manchester Market and when he learned about the open manager position at Acorn, he decided to apply.

“I’ve always wanted to work for a nonprofit,“ he says. ”I can get behind a company that gives a face to its people.“

Slowly, since his start at Acorn this June, the store has been making subtle changes. You may notice when you visit that the traffic pattern and layout is changing, and that is a purposeful move. Acorn has been working with the Fair Food Network to study marketing techniques that will work best for the store and increase foot traffic. They’re also bringing in more Michigan artisans for more variety in their offerings.

“We’ve been doing a lot more social media,“ Mark says, “and we are trying to do a vendor event weekly, showcasing our artisans. We’re looking forward to our corn roast on Sept. 1, when we’ll have the Men Club roasting 10 dozen free ears of corn for the community.

“We’re also looking forward to different kinds of events — once the Manchester Market gets their licensing we hope to have a Wine and Canvas night; we’ll be doing a pumpkin-carving contest and scarecrows this fall. We’re looking ahead at what we can do for the holiday season, too.“

The local vendors that serve Acorn have been “super fantastic“ to work with, Mark says, and he looks forward to welcoming more vendors into the store to provide more variety for the shoppers.

“We want to become a destination spot,“ he says. “It always a moving target, but we’re working on making that a reality.“

by Marsha Chartrand

Marsha Johnson Chartrand, a founder, writer, and copy editor with the Manchester Mirror, is a 50-year resident of Manchester. She has a long history of volunteer and community involvement.