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Maple Run Emporium Celebrates Six Years in Potsdam

Maple Run Emporium is celebrating its sixth anniversary at 49 Market Street in Potsdam, New York. The shop opened on April Fools Day 2011, and has been expanding its offerings ever since.

“The original idea was to sell maple candy and maple syrup,” said Owner Mary Hilton. “And it just snowballed. We’re not only a specialty maple shop, but also a kitchen store, gift shop, art gallery, and gourmet grocery. Ultimately, that’s an emporium!”

With more than 2,000 square feet available in the historic brick building, there was room to grow. The shop now features an Artisan Gallery of local artwork including paintings, pottery, wood-turnings and baskets. The shop’s main aisles showcase an impressive array of cookware, knives, cutting boards, utensils, textiles, stemware and books.

Maple specialty foods remain the focus of the shop, and there are continually new entries to this niche. “The current trend is bourbon-barrel aged maple syrup,” Hilton noted. “We had only one brand a few years ago, and now we have five.”

She also pointed out the popularity of maple-smoked products. The smoky maple wood flavor is featured not only in syrup, but also cheese, tea and salt. Maple syrup and maple sugar also add flavor to some unexpected products such as sardines, cocktail mixes and soy sauce.

Having the opportunity to taste a multitude of maple concoctions led Hilton to introduce the Maple Run Emporium brand of gourmet foods, which now includes maple teas, maple coffee, maple seasoning peppers, a maple chocolate drink mix and pancake mixes. The most recent introduction is Maple Organic Tea, which was just released this year.

The fragrance of maple is also a wonderful addition to scented products, Hilton said. The scent is created with essential oils and essences and added to formulations for the Maple Run Emporium brand of kitchen and bath products, which includes lotions, hand creams, body scrubs, candles, soaps and cleaners. So far this year Maple Run Emporium has introduced two new hand creams – Maple & Lavender and Maple & Rum.

“I’m always excited to find a unique new item and put it on the shelves,” Hilton said. “When people come in and ask ‘What’s new?’ I am absolutely delighted to show them!”