Shoppers may be soon be able to pick up more than just clothes, books or jewelry during a trip to Oakland Mall in Troy.

Think fresh corn, juicy tomatoes, bedding plants, perennials and, come fall, pumpkins.

Troy administrators plan to ask the Troy City Council soon to amend a city ordinance, allowing Albert VanHoutte to sell produce in the mall's parking lot without having to take down his commercial tent every night -- which he said wouldn't be feasible because of its size.

Acting Assistant City Manager Mark Miller said the matter could come before the council this month.

Miller said administrators are looking to develop standards within the ordinance for farmers markets. The ordinance already covers temporary merchants, he said, such as Christmas tree lots and sidewalk sales.

He said having a vendor -- or vendors -- sell fresh produce would be a benefit to Troy, which does not have a farmers market, unlike such cities as Detroit, Rochester, Southfield and Royal Oak.

"There's the general trend of locally grown foods," Miller said. "I think it'd be a good thing for the city."

And VanHoutte, a Franklin resident and Romeo farmer, may be the person to provide fresh produce. He said he and several of his siblings are farmers, selling produce at farmers markets and roadside stands across metro Detroit.

VanHoutte said his stand in Troy would be located in the Sears parking lot near John R and 14 Mile Road and would be open seven days a week from May 1 through Oct. 31. He said he'd sell fruits and about 30 kinds of vegetables, as well as plants.

And VanHoutte has the OK from Oakland Mall, mall spokeswoman Anne Kersten said.

"I just thought it'd be a nice thing," VanHoutte said. "People like eating fresh corn."

Contact GINA DAMRON: 586-826-7269 or gdamron@freepress.com