ROTTERDAM JUNCTION, N.Y. (NEWS10) —  Husband and wife duo Louise Dickinson and Jeffrey Klein opened the Hungry Chicken Country Store in May 2017. Dickinson prides the store on being full of one-of-a-kind locally made crafts and food items.

Breakfast sandwiches are the store’s number one seller, said Dickinson. “Made-to-order, never ahead of time. We’ve become known in our community for their quality,” said Dickinson. According to the Hungry Chicken Facebook page, they have “the area’s best breakfast sandwich.” The store also offers a chicken sandwich for lunch.

Along with breakfast sandwiches, the store sells baked goods with Dickinson doing the majority of the baking. They bake pies, sweet breads, cookies, fudge, scones and cinnamon rolls, as well as have black and white cookies, linzer tarts, and mini pies from a local bakery. You can preorder pies and a few other baked goods on the Hungry Chicken Country Store website.

The Hungry Chicken Country Store has locally produced honey, dog treats, granola and maple syrup. Dickinson makes the candles, jewelry, jams, chutneys, license plate signs, wall signs, knitted hats, scarves, mugs, and onesies. The store manager makes the crocheted animals, store T-shirts and hats, cat toys and beds. The store also has consignees who sell pottery, stationary, cards, hand-sewn crafts, cutting boards and small wood crafts. 

The owners also have an apple orchard located next to the store. Although it’s not open to the public for apple-picking, the apples are for sale at the store during the fall. The apples are also used to make their own apple cider, pies, butters and jams.

In April 2021, Dickinson and Klein lost their cidery, barn, seven sheep and many chickens to a fire. “Help from the local community poured in, enabling us to rebuild and keep the store going,” said Dickinson. “We pay it forward, donating food, gift baskets and help to local charity fundraisers, community events and a local non-profit community orchestra.”

“We do this as a labor of love for our community more than anything else,” said Dickinson.

The Hungry Chicken Country Store is located at 661 River Road directly across from Rotterdam Kiwanis Park and the Mohawk-Hudson Bike Trail on Route 5S. For the winter, the store is open 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Monday, 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday and closed on Tuesdays.