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A new chain sub shop is coming to Rockbridge, and a popular local food venture is moving from the county into Lexington.
A Jersey Mike’s submarine sandwich shop will be located in the Lexington Crossing Shopping Center, off of U.S. 11, north of Lexington. Walmart is the anchor store for this shopping center.
Jersey Mike’s is going to occupy half of the space where the Crystal Kitchen Chinese Restaurant was formerly located at 1225 N. Lee Highway. A tobacco and vape shop is going into the other half of this space.
Chris Slaydon, Rockbridge County’s director of community development, said a building permit has been attained for erecting a dividing wall and making other renovations so the building can accommodate both of these businesses.
Folks looking for Cattlemen’s Market will find it in a new location in the near future. Charles and Rosalea Potter will be moving their business from its current location on East Midland Trail to the open space next to University Cleaners on East Nelson Street in Lexington, next door to Sheetz.
“That’s a super busy intersection, so we’re hoping that will make our business more visible,” Rosalea Potter said. “Sheetz brings in a lot of customers, and maybe we can provide not only product, but a service and maybe even an experience. That’s what I keep telling my husband: Yes, we’re selling products and we’re selling a service, but we’ve got to sell the experience of coming to Cattleman’s … We hope we can bring that hometown service to the customers who come and visit us.”
One step in that process was getting approval from the Lexington Planning Commission for a certificate of appropriateness for the signage on the new building and for the site plan, both of which were unanimously approved at the Commission’s meeting last Thursday. The approved signage includes a 36-square-foot sign on the front of the building, which will hang above the awning where the Check Into Cash sign hung previously. A smaller sign was approved for the eastern side of the building (facing Sheetz) and for a monument sign panel to replace the one for the Check Into Cash business.
The site plan that was approved includes a fencedin area on the side of the building which will contain a walk-in cooler, walkin freezer and smoker for the business. The smoker, cooler, and freezer will rest on a 28-foot, 8-inch by 18foot concrete pad and will be shielded from view by a 12-foot high fence. The fence will be painted to match the color of the exterior of the building and will have no signage posted on it. Cattlemen’s Market opened its doors in 2017, but the Potters have been selling products from their farm to customers since 2006, first at farmer’s markets and then out of a store at Donald’s Meat Processing, which they reopened in 2009. They were there until they opened the market in 2017, in part to allow for a space to sell a limited menu of prepared meals to help move more of their product.
“As much as we would like to be able to sell all of our product fresh, it’s impossible, and we don’t like to send things to the freezer, because that’s like death row,” Rosalea Potter said. “We had to figure out a way to continue moving product in another form, and the most logical step for that was to have cooked or prepared meals using our product.”
With the move to the new space on Nelson Street, the Potters hope to “vamp up” their prepared to-go meal selection as well as their lunch offerings. The larger location will also allow them to expand their dry food selection. One new item that they’re planning on stocking is a seasoned flour similar to what was produced by Big Spring Mill in Roanoke before it closed last August. Rosalea told The News-Gazette that a customer asked if they carried that product and they’re always trying to pay attention to what their customers want.
“We try to listen to our customers and what they want and what they’re looking for, and if we’re missing something, we welcome those comments,” she said. “Like, what do we need to carry that’s going to make you come in and shop with us?”
Charles Potter informed the Planning Commission that they hoped to open the new store by the end of February and Rosalea told The News-Gazette that things were currently on track to meet that goal and were “moving along slow and steady.”
“I guess we’re not the hare, but we’re the tortoise, so we’re gonna get there,” she said.
