ORDINARY PEOPLE LIVING

you don’t have to run off in search of something if what you're looking for is already there.

Ordinary People Living Extraordinary Lives®

Robert Moehling

How One Man Found Himself Without Ever Leaving Home

Robert Moehling has never had to struggle to seek meaning in his life, to discover his destiny or to find himself. He found his answers early on, which have led him to a surprisingly fruitful existence.

Moehling, 68, runs a fruit stand, just as he has since 1959 when he was six years old. It’s called Robert is Here, named after the very spot his father tried to sell crops from their farm. Frustrated by poor sales, he thought people might stop if they saw a little boy selling them, so he made a sign out of an old shingle that said, “Robert Is Here.” It worked. Young Moeller would sell out after just a few hours nearly every day, and that very sign is still on display there.

Young Robert loved working at the stand. He learned to interact with his customers and began to really enjoy working the family business. “By the time I was in high school it had really become a passion,” said Moehling. “It didn’t hurt that I was making close to $50,000 dollars a year.”

Instead of searching for life, life - along with regular customers and tourists from around the world - has come to him; at his market at the same corner his boyhood stand was located, near Everglades National Park in Florida City, FL.

“Yep, very same spot.” he said. “I never grew up and left so I must still be a kid. I feel like staying right here keeps me young and all my customers, old and new, keep me fresh, just like my produce.”

Robert Is Here is unlike any other market. He sells citrus, mangoes and produce with exotic names such as Monstera Deliciosa. You can enjoy a fresh tropical milkshake made to order. They sell preserves and jellies crafted from Moehling’s late mother’s secret recipes, honey-infused with fruit flavors, pies, fresh cut flowers and even firewood. Out back you can enjoy ducks, goats and tortoises in the petting zoo, and they feature live music on many weekends.

Something you will not see are cash registers. Moehling doesn’t believe in them. “We weigh your produce and do the math right on the bag we wrap it in,” he explained. "That's how it was done before I was born, that's how I do it and that's not going to change."

In this time of change Robert Is Here is a refreshing homage to a simpler time and it is likely to stay that way for at least another generation. Moehling has four adult children interested in making certain that Robert Is Here exists for years to come. After all, you don’t have to run off in search of something if what you're looking for is already there.