Lawrence grocers are offering more local products - and with good reason.

They tend to sell like hotcakes.

The Community Mercantile, 901 Iowa, boasts products that are organic, gourmet or meet special dietary needs. But folks there say it's the local products like Pendleton's Blue Corn chips and Grace's Best cookies that fly off the shelves.

"We have a lot of local items within every category in our store, and a lot of the time they are the best-seller in that category," said Jennifer Wilber, grocery manager.

Checkers Foods, 2300 La., also has no problem selling local fruits and vegetables.

"I try to carry as much as I can as long as it's feasible," Ron Jeffries, produce manager, said. "Most people want the homegrown if they can get it."

Stores like Checkers and The Merc label the local products to let customers know of their origins.

"It does help sell the product," Jeffries said.

Lawrence resident Lisa Koch agrees. Koch said she tries to buy as local as possible and is willing to pay more for such products.

"It tastes much fresher," she said. "It also is better for the economy and supports local farmers."

One such farmer would be John Britt who farms about 10 acres east of Lawrence. Checkers has purchased tomatoes, cantaloupe, watermelon and bell peppers from him this year.

"I just call up every day and say, 'What do you need?' and they say, 'I need a bin of cantaloupe or a bin of watermelon,'" he said.

Britt, who works a full-time day job with the Kansas Turnpike, begins picking his produce about 4 p.m. and delivers it to the store at 7 p.m.

"You can't get any fresher than that," he said.

Britt estimated the store goes through about 1,000 pounds of cantaloupe per day and about 2,000 pounds of watermelon during its peak season.

Many farmers and grocers seem to have long-standing relationships like Britt and Checkers; they have been making deals for 20 years. Lawrence farmer Kevin Irick has been selling all sorts of goods to The Merc for about 10 years. He recently added The Casbah Market and People's Eastside Market to his customer list.

"I always like to stop by and talk to them in person," he said of dealing with the stores.

Grocery managers and farmers said most negotiations take place through a brief phone call or visit once that relationship is established. While some farmers said they could make 50 percent more on their produce at the Lawrence Farmers' Market, they weren't complaining. Getting rid of a lot of produce through a store beats the hassle of lugging it around and selling it themselves.

But the Farmers' Market can help initiate such relationships. Laurel Eastling, health market manager at Hy-Vee Food Store on Sixth Street, visits the market to see what products are available. If something piques her interest, she exchanges information with the producer.

"I am always on the lookout," she said.

Hy-Vee opened its health market eight years ago at 4000 W. Sixth St. and now has between 25 and 30 local vendors. The store is having a "meet and greet" from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 23-24, when customers can meet some of the local producers.

"I think people just like to know where their food is coming from. It's one of the reasons that the Farmers' Market is so popular because you can actually interact with the people that you are buying from," Eastling said.