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Lee Russell, formerly a butcher with Costco, will soon open his own shop, Olde Towne Butcher, at 405 William St.
Olde Towne Butcher will open in the left-hand side of this building on William Street in downtown Fredericksburg. |
BY EMILY BATTLE
All Lee Russell wanted to do was help people buy better meat.
In the past year, though, he's learned that getting out of the supermarket and into his own storefront is no simple matter.
From choosing a location to getting a small business loan to working unexpected costs into his budget, Russell has learned just how much it really takes to achieve his dream of owning his own butcher shop.
But now, as Abby Construction moves along with work on his 950-square-foot William Street storefront, Russell is hopeful that opening day is near for his shop, Olde Towne Butcher. He's shooting for early September.
Russell, 59, wasn't unhappy in his job in the meat department of Costco's Newington store. But he could have done without the commute, which sometimes took as long as three to five hours, and the supermarket was so busy that it limited him from being able to make special cuts or talk one-on-one with customers about how to cook particular cuts of meat.
"I always felt unfulfilled because of the lack of customer service," he said.
Russell got into the butcher's trade in the late 1980s, after he lost his job as a machinist with Eastern Airlines because the airline went out of business.
He got into a two-year training program with Giant, a program he says he was lucky to find, and worked in supermarket meat departments until he left his job at Costco last September to set out on his own.
Along the way, Russell saw changes in the way people bought meat at the supermarket.
When stores moved away from making ground beef from materials of their choosing, and began using prepackaged tubes of leftover animal parts sent directly from meat suppliers, Russell said he felt uncomfortable.
He plans to make his own ground beef at his shop, and if you venture in, he will probably urge you to smell it. He maintains that raw ground beef should smell so sweet and appetizing that you want to eat it as it is (not that you should). It shouldn't lack fragrance or smell off-putting.
Russell also watched customers begin to buy meat more and more based solely on the price label on the package, without looking at the thickness of a steak or its quality.
He watched as the best-cut steaks in the refrigerator cabinet were picked over in favor of smaller ones that cost less, but probably wouldn't stand up on the grill.
At Olde Towne Butcher, Russell plans to have some pre-cut steaks for sale, but he will also cut to order, something he was forbidden to do at Costco. He also plans to offer domestic lamb, air-chilled chicken, pork and perhaps some seafood.
He will make his own sausage using old-world recipes he's tracked down, and he wants his shop to smell of the garlic and other ingredients that go into that process.
Russell is talking with several local meat producers in Culpeper and Fauquier counties, and plans to offer locally raised meats. But when he opens, he will be selling commercial beef, as well.
Ideally, he'd like to offer more local meat, and he said the demand he sees from customers and the availability of consistent local supply will determine whether that's possible.
At a time when buying meat for a lot of folks means picking out a vacuum-sealed freezer pack at the supermarket, Russell says he's hoping to compete on customer service. He said he thinks he can offer a competitive price, though his specialty products will be more expensive.
Russell worked with a business counselor through the Rappahannock Region Small Business Development Center to help him refine his business plan, choose a location and get a loan.
He said his counselor helped broaden his thinking about where he wanted to locate his shop. A downtown resident, Russell said he had a sort of "tunnel vision" on Caroline Street, but he couldn't find a suitable spot there.
His SBDC counselor suggested he look at William Street. After talking with the Silver Cos. about their plans for the former Fredericksburg Hardware property, he determined that project wasn't going to happen soon enough for him. (At present, no final plans have been made for that property.)
So he ended up at 405 William St., which was most recently occupied by Mind Melds.
Russell will be adding another food destination to a corridor that has become a much more lively food-centered area of Fredericksburg's downtown.
Outdoor dining at more than a half-dozen restaurants between Caroline and Prince Edward streets has made William Street a lively place on warm nights.
In addition to Russell's butcher shop, Luigi Castiglia, who owns Castiglia's Italian restaurant, is planning to open Bella Italia, a food market that would include a deli, gourmet foods, take-home meal platters, a bakery and some convenience goods.
Castiglia said he was still working through the permitting process, and wasn't sure yet of an opening date for the market, which would be right next door to his restaurant at William and Charles streets.
Emily Battle: 540/374-5413
Email: ebattle@freelancestar.com
