A Market Reborn
A Community Institution Since 2001
The Market at River Falls has been a fixture at 10124 River Road in Potomac since 2001, when a visionary founder, fondly remembered by staff only as “Jeff,” built it from the ground up over 12 years. But in the fall of 2014, the market closed abruptly, and the community mourned the loss. Then, three months later, just before Christmas of that same year, the lights came back on.
Neighbors to the Rescue
The people who revived it were already part of the neighborhood. Jim McWhorter had been a vendor to the market for years. His wife, Yasmin Abadian, had lived in Potomac since she was seven years old, attending Carderock Springs Elementary when it first opened, then Churchill High School before it transitioned to Walt Whitman. When the market closed, it was Yasmin who turned to Jim and asked, almost casually, “How hard would it be to open that place back up?”
Jim knew the answer. He had spent decades in the food business. In 1978, he co-founded L&M Produce, a wholesale produce company that grew through a series of mergers and acquisitions to become part of Fresh Point, now the largest fresh produce distributor in the nation. He knew quality suppliers, the community, and the market’s potential. Three months after the doors closed, The Market at River Falls was open again, and they’ve been running ever since, going on twelve years now.
What Are Clean Foods?
The term clean eating first surfaced in the bodybuilding community around 1990, referring simply to high-protein, low-sugar diets for building lean muscle. It gained broader meaning in the early 2000s through Tosca Reno’s popular Eat-Clean book series, which expanded the concept to mean whole foods free of processing and artificial ingredients. By 2015, Collins Dictionary named Clean Food their Word of the Year. This was a clear signal it had entered mainstream vocabulary. So, it’s a cultural and marketing term, not a legal or scientific one.
The Clean Food Philosophy
No Six-Syllable Ingredients
Walk into The Market at River Falls, and you won’t find a single six-syllable ingredient you can’t pronounce. No artificial preservatives. No high-fructose corn syrup. No GMOs. No feedlot beef. The market’s commitment to clean food isn’t a marketing slogan; it’s a deeply personal standard set by the owners themselves.
Yasmin explains the philosophy directly: “We will not sell anything to people that we wouldn’t eat or give to our kids and grandkids.” The kitchen switched from canola oil to non-GMO sunflower oil sourced from Italy, and olive oil comes from Europe, specifically because American oils often contain GMOs.
Ethical Sourcing of Meats
All meats are grass-fed or pasture-raised. The lamb comes from New Zealand and the veal from France, chosen because those countries maintain stricter animal welfare standards and do not inject livestock with the antibiotics and growth hormones common in American feedlot operations. Jim sums it up: “In a lot of ways, I think we’re protecting people’s health without their knowledge.”
From the Sea to Your Table
Signature Items
The market’s top-selling item is Blue Circle salmon, sourced from Norway and prized for its exceptional quality. Close behind are the house-made crab cakes, still prepared using the original recipe created by the market’s founder — unchanged for nearly 25 years. Catering drives a significant share of the business, particularly around the holidays.
A Global Seafood Case
The seafood case tells a story of thoughtful global sourcing. Among the offerings:
Halibut from Iceland • Arctic char from Iceland • Cod from Iceland • Norwegian and New Zealand salmon • Chilean sea bass • Bronzino from Greece and Turkey • Tilapia from Ecuador • Lobster from Canada • Tuna from Panama and the Dominican Republic (winter) / local waters (summer) • Crab meat from Mexico and the Gulf of Mexico
Jim notes an interesting footnote on lobster: “Lobsters are coming mostly from Canada now, because it’s gotten too warm for them in Maine; they’ve migrated north over the last couple of decades.” And on Maryland crab: less than half of one percent of the global crab meat supply comes from the Chesapeake Bay. What matters, Jim says, is quality and freshness, regardless of where the source.
Local at Heart
Supporting Local Vendors
Despite its global reach in seafood sourcing, The Market at River Falls is deeply rooted in the local community. Eggs come from Nick’s Organic Farm right here in Potomac. The beer cooler features craft brews from seven local breweries, including Brawling Bear (Gaithersburg), Jailbreak Brewery (Laurel), and DC Brau, alongside the mainstream brands that, as Jim says with a smile, simply have to be there if you want to stay in business.
Breads, cookies, and sweets come from a rotating roster of local and regional artisan bakeries, including Whisked! by Jenna Huntsberger, based in Washington, DC. The prepared foods lineup of salads, soups, and entrees is made entirely in-house, giving the team full control over every ingredient.
Personal Service, Personal Pride
The personal service model is intentional. From the moment a customer walks through the door, a single staff member follows them through the entire visit, answering questions, making recommendations, and seeing them to checkout. It’s a model from a different era of retail, one that has clearly resonated with Potomac shoppers.
“People don’t vote in these awards because they like paying $38 for a piece of fish,” Jim says of the Best of Bethesda and Best of Potomac Readers' Choice Award honors. “They vote because of how they’re greeted and how they’re taken care of.”
Visit The Market at River Falls
The Market at River Falls is located at 10124 River Road in the village of Potomac, Montgomery County, Maryland 20854. Hours are Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Online ordering, local delivery, and curbside pickup are available at https://www.marketriverfalls.com. To reach the market directly, call 301-765-8001.