Two Barrington residents have made it easier to shop for gluten-free foods in the East Bay.

Celeste Bremer and Jay Romano are partners with May’s Market — a gluten-free grocery store located on Forbes Street in Riverside. Bremer and Romano and a third partner are now planning to expand the enterprise and add a kitchen at May’s Market. 

“We do a lot of stuff out of Hope and Main, baked goods and prepared meals and things like that, and those have just been more and more popular,” Bremer said.

But traveling between the Warren-based Hope and Main and their store in Riverside can be a challenge, she said.

“It’s just so much work to go back and forth. It just makes sense to have a little place to cook stuff and prep stuff here,” she said.

Romano gave a tour of the back half of the grocery store, where they plan to convert some shelf space and freezers into the kitchen area. Romano said they would love to have the renovation completed before the holidays, although it has been difficult finding a contractor who could get the work done right away. 

“That’s the biggest challenge,” he said. “We’ve had so many people come in and they’re so busy right now.”

Bremer opened May’s Market a year ago — the gluten-free grocery store is a project that is near and dear to her own family. Two of her children are gluten-free. 

Bremer said she handles the food shopping for her family and for years she struggled to find the products that could mesh with her children’s diets. Bremer said it seemed like no two stores had the same products and she had to spend time reading the labels for most items. 

“It took my whole day to do the grocery shopping — three or four grocery stores,” she said. 

The experience led her to open May’s Market. She said many of the customers at May’s Market were facing the same challenges she had faced. 

“We’ve had people literally cry when they walk in,” she said. 

Romano joined the May’s Market partnership after spending months as a devoted customer. He said he loves to cook and would often share recipes or recent gluten-free creations with Bremer. He once brought her his gluten-free stuffies and she loved them. Eventually the conversations about gluten-free dishes turned toward the business itself. 

“I was jumping around trying to figure out what I was going to do next — I do a bunch of other stuff (for work). I always had a desire to be in the food industry, for some reason,” he said.

Bremer said the partnership has been great. 

“I needed more help around here. It’s a lot of work,” she said. “We have a third partner. She’s the ‘Empanada Assassin’ — Guetty Antiste. She makes gluten-free empanadas. She works out of Hope and Main.”

Together, the May’s Market team is excited about building the new kitchen and expanding the gluten-free ready-to-eat, take-out offerings.

“I’m very excited,” Bremer said. “We’ve been wanting to do this for a while.”