Walk into Shawnee Grocery in Stout, Ohio, and chances are high you’ll see owner Carrie McCaw, her husband Zachary, or one of their three kids working behind the counter. “My parents bought the store in 1997 and I loved to be here as a girl,” McCaw said. “This convenience store is in my blood, and our eight-year-old daughter loves it as much as I did at her age.”
The history of the site goes back further than the McCaw family—the concrete was poured for the original foundation in 1941. “My parents took over the store for a while before leasing it half a dozen times,” she said. “It’s always been a convenience store, and my parents added gas, diesel, and kerosene.”
When her parents decided to retire in 2007, McCaw asked to take over the business. “I wanted a chance to prove I could make it work after so many others who leased it didn’t,” she said. “It has made a profit every year since then.”
Stocking Up
One of McCaw’s first challenges was figuring out what to carry in the store. “Since we’re in a rural area near a campground, we knew we needed to be a one-stop shop,” she said. Shawnee Grocery stocks a wide variety of items, from hardware to groceries, including plumbing fixtures, green beans, stuffing, flour, and baking soda among the vast array of products. “Since town is about 30 minutes away for most people, we carry a little bit of everything,” McCaw said.
The heart of the store is its deli counter with fresh-sliced meats and cheeses. “Nothing is prepackaged—we slice it right in front of the customer,” McCaw said, adding that in the summer, deli sandwiches are made with fresh tomato slices from the store’s outdoor plants. The deli also sells house-made salads, like macaroni, potato, ham, and chicken, and the grill serves burgers, grilled chicken, steak hoagies, plus fish and ribs. For breakfast, the store makes burritos, breakfast sandwiches, and breakfast bowls. A pizza oven bakes fresh pies, and the store makes homemade cheesecake, too.
To read more, check out the November 2024 issue of NACS Magazine.