Local Boys bring a fresh idea to Kitsap Peninsula

But inside Local Boys’ 14006 Purdy Drive location, there are treasures to be unearthed.

Their website boasts of the staples of any fruit stand — produce, salsa, jams, syrups, honey.

But inside Local Boys’ 14006 Purdy Drive location, there are treasures to be unearthed.

There’s the Orange Creamsicle, a melon they carry exclusively.

Products with names such as Unbelievable Corn and Perfect Peach.

Special cherry varieties.

“All this stuff is grown special for us,” said owner Robert Jones, who once owned the Tacoma Boys on Sixth Avenue in Tacoma, the largest of its kind in the country.

“Local Boys is generated because we’re local,” Jones said. “I’ve lived here all my life.”

Jones built a similar business to Tacoma Boys across the street while he was attending the University of Washington, but after several years sold it and came back to the Kitsap Peninsula. He bought property, but had no intention of going back into the fruit business — until his son, Trevor, stepped in.

They have operated in Gig Harbor since 2002, and their current location features a couple thousand square feet of goods.

“We have the good, quality fruit we had when we left,” he said. “And people were missing that, too.”

Jones said that his produce comes from farms in Orting, Puyallup, Yakima, Wenatchee, Mount Vernon and over the Purdy Bridge.

“We sell stuff ready to eat,” his son said. “We don’t sell it green like grocery stores or overripe like a lot of fruit stands do.”

They also have, at times, such items as the Mahogany Red Cherry and a Rainier Royal Anne Cherry.

“It’s not just a cherry, it’s our own variety cherry,” said Trevor Jones. “It’s going to be 10 times sweeter than any cherry you get anywhere else.”

Local Boys, which is open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day, sells wine via Steve Kludt, a longtime friend of Robert Jones’ and the store’s cherry supplier.

He offered to make the store a direct wine from his Lake Chelan Winery.

Robert Jones said they held off on intermixing meats until they knew more about it, but now they plan to form a partnership of sorts with Ray Paul Schumsky, a butcher moving into same complex.

His opening, planned for the beginning of October, will bring a wide assortment of beef products, lamb, pork, veal and natural, organic meats.

“We’re going to work hand-in-hand on a lot of things,” said Schumsky, who plans to carry some of his products in the store.

But for now?

“We’re getting into Halloween stuff,” Trevor Jones said. “Pumpkins.”

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