Clarence Carter, Cassandra Monroe and Roberta Rowe, owners

CM & RR Fruit and Vegetable Stand

1921 S. Roosevelt Drive

Seaside

Under a corrugated tin roof next to Trucke’s 1-Stop at the southeast corner of Avenue V and U.S. Highway 101, Carter, his daughter ,Monroe, and his wife, Rowe, run CM & RR Fruit and Vegetable Stand, selling seasonal varieties and, starting next month, even Christmas trees. The stand opens from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. seven days a week and can be reached at 503-717-3843 (Rowe) or 503-791-8736 (Monroe).

What do you do?

Clarence: “A lot of the fruit from this stand will be from the valley. Anybody’s got local stuff they want to bring in to sell to me, I’ll buy from the general public or I’ll buy from the farmers, I’ll get my produce and stuff from the valley. When it comes time, we’re going to have strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, corn.”

Monroe: “Corn, squash, cucumbers, onions. We’re going to have everything. We’re even going to get Christmas trees.”

How did you get started doing this?

Monroe: “My dad and (Rowe) just moved up from California. They wanted to start a fruit stand. That’s what we did.”

Clarence: “I started selling fruit and vegetables in Salem about 45 years ago, and then I moved to California, and I got out of it. So when I came back up here … and I went to Safeway, and I saw how much their produce was, and I said ‘I can beat that price.’ So I decided to look around and find a fruit stand.”

Monroe: “During the summer, there’s free fruits and vegetables. It goes from August until Sept. 25, and there’s no fruits and vegetables left.”

What’s your usual clientele or volume of business?

Monroe: “Anybody and everybody. They just drop in. Just like yesterday. We had a gentleman who’s riding his bike from Alberta, Canada, to Los Angeles. … We offered him a fresh ear of corn, cooked in the microwave; and he bought eight ears of corn, an onion and a bell pepper. They just drop in.”

Clarence: “Right now, it’s awfully slow. We had about 10, 12 yesterday that stopped in. We just don’t have all of our signs out. People don’t know we’re here yet.”

Monroe: “The signs we do have are being washed out. So we’re having to make another big sign. We can’t afford signs like you set up, and fliers and stuff. We have to make our own. But we’ve got everything; we’ll have everything.

What are some of the quirks of running your business?

Monroe: “Having to drive my car, which is a Mustang, to Salem and loading it down with corn, pumpkins. I mean, we had 329 pounds of pumpkins … in my Mustang. It was packed. But we would like to see if we can get just a little bit of help getting on our feet, which we’re doing now. We’ve got our pumpkins, our bell peppers, our apples. We’ve got some sweet apples. The pears are fantastic. The corn is excellent.”

Clarence: “I got started late in the season to get any fruit from the (Willamette) valley, because it was all pretty much gone. I found a farmer over there who had some fruit, he offered it to me for a decent price. I’m offering it to the public for a decent price.”