MENANDS MARKET SEES GROWTH IN RETAIL FARMERS CO-OP TRADES IN STRICTLY FRESH.(CAPITAL REGION)

Byline: DAVID ORENSTEIN Business writer

Menands The Capital District Regional Market, a flowers and produce wholesale destination for 63 years, is going retail on Saturdays.

``The market is the best kept secret in the Capital Region,'' said its manager, Paul Woolley. Some area residents have trickled through the gates in recent years, but only by word of mouth.

The bountiful pickings of spring flowers and fall fruits and vegetables has pretty much been reserved for wholesale customers, who sweep through the market at 6 a.m. Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays.

But last Saturday the farmer-owned cooperative on Broadway officially began courting …