E & S Sales Bulk Foods — Local services in Middlebury

While no visit to Shipshewana would be complete without an hour or two at E&S Sales, this store is so unique and economical it's worth the trip on its own. You can't fail to find a cart full of bargains among the row after row of bulk food items, ranging from one-pound bags of Xylitol (the best sugar substitute) to fifty-pound sacks of rice, barley or soybeans; from rare spices to restaurant mixes to gourmet flavorings; E&S offers everything you'd need to fill a well-stocked pantry.

But it's the seconds and overstocks that will make your heart beat faster. Some are from local food producers, some from large stores or national distributors, but all are good quality and priced at a fraction of what you'd expect. On our most recent visit we found prime quality Canadian style bacon for under $1.50/lb, for example, and dried cranberries for about $1.00/lb. Last year we found our favorite brand of instant coffee for less than a tenth the price charged for the very same product at our local store (sorry, we bought all eight jars they had :-) -- and that raises an important point: E&S' "surplus" stock changes constantly, with new items going on the shelf constantly as existing stock sells out. If you see a really good deal don't assume you can come back for more next week as some other great deal will probably have replaced it.

E&S also sells locally grown produce, has a superb bakery and even a small cafe. I could go on for many more paragraphs, but there's a much better way to learn about this treasure: make a point of visiting E&S Sales as soon as you can, find out for yourself, and you'll soon be writing your own...

Many items, especially certain meats unavailable. In these days that is not unusual and not the reason for my low rating of E & S.

I returned after a three month absence because of covid-19 virus. Thought it would be safer after the Governor made masks mandatory. A sign on the door said masks are highly recommend. What a joke! Out of dozens of customers only a handful of English, not Amish, had masks on. Employees had on masks but most had them pulled down below the nose. NO Amish had on masks. Whole familes, from Grandma and Grandpa, to small children were unprotected. Lagrange has one of the highest rates of infection of over 23% of those tested. One young Amish mother was walking down the isle coughing into her hand with her children in tow. I got out of there as fast as I could. With over 150,000 deaths in the US and masks proven to help stop the spread, people, everyone, must start wearing masks. Another store in Lagrange had a sign on the door that said "NO MASK, NO SERVICE". Will it cost them some business, probably, but we have a very long way to go before we will have the situation under control. People acting iresponsibly, for whatever reason, will only prolong the epidemic and in the end cost more lives. E & S could as a business, make masks mandatory. Many businesses have done so for the safety and well-being of their customers. For what ever reason E & S has...

I don't live in Shipshewana so when I come to town for a visit, E & S Sales is one of the highlights of that visit and I always stop and stock up on the amazingly priced bulk foods they have available. I love to cook and they have an incredible spice aisle with very well priced spices of all kinds in different sizes of containers so you can get what you need. Today I bought two containers of the curry powder because we love it.

E & S Sales is also an ordinary grocery store and you can get fresh produce and breads and you can get freshly ground nut butters and today I got Squeaky Green Muenster cheese: cheese so fresh that it squeaks when you bite into it. I also got a cheddar with kalamata olives and sun-dried tomatoes and Aleppo pepper and garlic and a bunch of other delicious additions.

Bring your cash with you because this is a cash or check operation. Enjoy listening to employees speaking to each other in Pennsylvania dutch. My cashier today had a charming accent. Maybe I had an accent to her ears? The young man who bagged my groceries also drove the cart out to the car and helped to load the car. That's just part of the service that is provided there.

If you have a chance to come to Shipshewana I encourage you to stop by E & S Sales. You will be...