LEBANON — Residents in the city’s center once again have a nearby place to buy groceries, seven years after the Lebanon Village Marketplace closed its doors.
Earlier this month, entrepreneur Joey Pellegrino unveiled Pellegrino’s Farmer’s Market and Italian Deli in the Village Marketplace’s former storefront, near Colburn Park in the complex at 2 Mascoma St. next to the downtown fire station.
“It’s very exciting to have a market in downtown Lebanon,” City Councilor George Sykes said in an interview at the store last week. “I hope the community shows the necessary support.”
The market is part of developer Recreo LLC’s ongoing plan to build an 11-stall food court in the Mascoma Street building. The food court is phase one in Recreo’s plan to construct a two-building, 152-unit apartment complex on the property.
While residents are welcoming the opening of the market and deli, the food court is currently stalled and the apartment complex has faced delays.
Recreo missed a regulatory filing deadline last month and will be required to ask the city for an extension for the time to get a building permit for the rest of the food court. The city has already granted the developers an extension until July for the housing component.
Since the Village Marketplace’s closure in 2018, the closest grocery stores have been Price Chopper on Miracle Mile and the Co-op Food Store in Centerra Parkway. Both are a roughly eight-minute drive from downtown Lebanon.
Jim and Cathy Filiano, of Lebanon, N.H., talk with Joey Pellegrino Jr and his sister Tina Roussel at the newly opened Pellegrino’s Farmer’s Market & Italian Deli on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025, in Lebanon, N.H. The couple stopped at the market for lunch, and he ate his veal parmigiana there while she took her roast beef sandwich home.
JENNIFER HAUCK / Valley News
The market’s opening is especially promising for residents of Rogers House, a city-managed apartment complex for seniors and people with disabilities situated on the opposite side of Colburn Park.
Traveling outside of the downtown to get groceries isn’t a big issue for Rogers House resident Liz Stoneman because “I have a car and I’m mobile,” she said.
But she said she’d gladly pick up groceries at Pellegrinos for residents with limited mobility.
As the name suggests, Pellegrino’s primarily stocks Italian goods that are imported through Accardi Foods, a purveyor based in Medford, Mass.
Matteo Buck prepares a sausage calzone for a customer at the newly opened Pellegrino’s Farmer’s Market and Italian Deli in Lebanon, N.H., on Thursday, Nov. 20, 205. The market makes its own dough using semolina flour. JENNIFER HAUCK / Valley News
In the middle of the store are rows of shelves with jars of olives, marinated garlic, tapenades and bags of pasta.
A nearby open-air fridge is stocked with meats, cheeses and packages of gnocchi, while another fridge is filled with soft drinks, eggs and milk.
There’s also a produce section with boxes of grapefruits and 99-cent oranges among other fruits and veggies, sourced from Upper Valley Produce, a White River Junction-based distributor.
Pellegrino’s Farmer’s Market and Italian Deli has recently opened in the former Lebanon Village Market in Lebanon, N.H. On Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025, the market was busy selling sandwiches and specialty Italian food.
JENNIFER HAUCK / Valley News
In addition to its grocery selection, the store also has a menu of hot and cold sub sandwiches, salads, soups, spaghetti dishes, calzones and pizza that customers can order at the deli counter.
Chef Matteo Buck, who worked with the Pellegrinos at their Enfield market, makes dishes to order. The Enfield market closed in 2021, just three years after it opened, due to staffing shortages.
Originally from Northern Italy, Buck hopes to incorporate more cuisine from the region such as mushroom and polenta-based dishes into the deli’s menu.
On Thursday, Lebanon residents Jim and Cathy Filiano ordered a lunch of veal cutlet and Parmesan spaghetti and a roast beef sub.
The Filianos live a short walk from Pellegrino’s and the market has become a regular stop since it opened on Nov. 15.
“I don’t have to worry about what I am going to make for dinner anymore,” Cathy Filiano said.
A photo of Anthony Pellegrino sits on the counter at Pellegrino’s Farmer’s Market and Italian Deli on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025, in Lebanon, N.H. Pellegrino is the grandfather of Joey Pellegrino, the owner of the newly opened market. “He goes everywhere I go, he was my mentor,” said Joe Pellegrino, remarking that his grandfather made wine during prohibition in the North End of Boston, creating a customer base for the wine.
JENNIFER HAUCK / Valley News
While Joey Pellegrino manages the deli, his wife runs the family’s other enterprise: Amish Jam Jelly Honey House in the North Country Plaza on Route 12A in West Lebanon. The store stocks a variety of products such as popcorn, seasonings, applesauce, honey and preserved fruit from Amish communities in Vermont and across the East Coast.
The couple’s children, Joey Pellegrino Jr. and Tina Pellegrino Roussel, also help out at the market, as does Davide Buck, Matteo Buck’s brother.
While the Filianos waited for their food, Joey Pellegrino Jr. and his sister chatted with them at one of the market’s half dozen fold-out tables where customers can sit and eat their food.
“We’re getting our footing every day. I think we’re going to do a good job,” Pellegrino Roussel said in an interview.
Some customers voiced misgivings about whether the market could fill the shoes of a regular grocery store.
“As far as a market goes, it’s got a lot of specialty items, oils and vegetables, but not a lot of staples,” said Richard Balagur, who manages the 20 West Park building directly across from the market.
Pellegrino’s isn’t “a replacement” for the Village Marketplace, Sykes concurred. “It’s good because it’s unique and there’s nothing like it elsewhere in the city.”
For his part, Joey Pellegrino doesn’t intend for his store to be a full-fledged grocery store.
“It’s a specialty Italian market,” he said.
While the Pellegrinos’ market is up and running, the larger plan for the food court is currently in limbo.
Recreo LLC missed its Oct. 15 deadline to apply for a building permit. The property holding company is affiliated with Ledgeworks, which manages the property and leases the Mascoma Street space to the Pellegrinos. Both companies are owned by Mike Davidson, a prominent Upper Valley landlord and developer.
As a result of missing the deadline, Recreo will either have to appeal to the Planning Board for an extension or provide the board with a reasonable explanation as to why they should be exempt from the extension, said Tim Corwin, the city’s deputy planning and development director.
“Getting Pellegrino’s open was our focus,” Tim Sidore, Ledgeworks’ chief of operations, said when asked about the missed deadline. “Our intent is to go ahead with the food court.”
Recreo plans to apply for an extension to procure the building permit “if that’s what’s needed,” Sidore said.
The housing portion of the project also is in a state of flux.
On July 11, 2022, the Planning Board granted Recreo site plan approval for a phased development of the apartment complex. The city granted Recreo one extension in July 2024 and another this past July. The company now has until July 2026 to apply for a building permit for the housing portion of the project.
Sidore cited rising costs of materials and labor and high interest rates as reasons the project has been delayed.
In spite of those challenges, meeting the July 2026 deadline is still “our expectation,” Sidore said.
Dining and Cooking