Island grocer and entrepreneur Elio Silva has purchased Bobby B’s Seafood & Pizza and Bernie’s Ice Cream, adding the two Main street Vineyard Haven storefronts to his growing family of business enterprises.

It’s a bad time for business. Shoppers are spending less and economists are predicting the worst. But veteran Island businessman Elio Silva said the timing could not be better for opening Tisbury Farm Market, his new fresh produce stand on State Road. “More people are looking to cook from scratch and are looking to get a good price,” Mr. Silva said last Friday.

Entrepreneurship is in Elio Silva’s genes. Growing up in the landlocked, coffee-rich state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, he worked beside his father as he grew a small grocery into a major supermarket. In his 22 years on the Vineyard Mr. Silva has imported the lessons and work ethic ingrained in him during that time to the two stores he runs on State Road in Vineyard Haven: Tisbury Farm Market and Vineyard Grocer. He has also imported some delicious Brazilian coffee. Last week the Martha’s Vineyard Commission approved Mr.