MORGAN PARK — Feel like someone is watching you while shopping at County Fair Foods? It might just be the produce.
The independent grocery store at 10800 S. Western Ave. bought 90 "Pumpkinsteins" Friday and displayed half of them near the two entrances.
The pumpkins are grown on a specialty farm in California using a mold that gives them a Frankenstein-like face, according to Sal Mora, the produce manager and buyer at County Fair.
County Fair Foods in Morgan Park is selling pumpkins with faces for $49.99. A "Pumpkinstein" is grown using a special mold at an organic farm in California. [DNAinfo/Howard A. Ludwig]
The pumpkins cost $49.99, and Mora pre-sold about half of his shipment before they even arrived. To secure the delivery, Mora had to place the order with Cinagro Farms in June.
"Tom [Baffes, the store's owner] likes to have fun. He likes something different," said Mora, adding customers seem fascinated by the pumpkin heads, though many have balked at the price.
Still, the novelty of the item that is also fully edible has drawn plenty of attention. If nothing else, Mora hopes County Fair's seasonal item will become a topic of conversation among neighborhood residents, which ultimately should draw more people into the store.
This pumpkin at County Fair Foods in Morgan Park keeps an eye on shoppers near the checkout line at 10800 S. Western Ave. [DNAinfo/Howard A. Ludwig]
Cinagro (Organic spelled backwards) Farms also grows both heart- and square-shaped watermelons. County Fair sells a few of the $110 melons to restaurants each year, Mora said.
The farm has been growing Pumpkinsteins since 2014 and also grows white pumpkins with spooky skull faces, according to its website.
