Everyone is excited about the recent opening of the Mercantile in the Service Press building on Main Street in Henderson – photo Kerri Pankratz
Henderson News Reprint
Written by Kerri Pankratz
The word has been a conversation starter up and down Henderson’s Main Street. Heck, up and down and all around the entire town of Henderson! That word? Groceries.
And luckily, for all of us, that particular word started a conversation between Jon Ruybalid and Sheree Goertzen a little over two months ago.
The conversation started between the two, but it wasn’t long before Lynn and Daphne Hall were looped in.
“Sheree and I had a conversation last fall where I said ‘If there’s an opportunity where Lynn and I could be a part of something in the community that meets a need…. keep us in mind.’” Daphne said, “And a while later she sent a text saying, ‘Are you interested in being a part of a bodega concept?’”
It was after that text that an ownership group was formed. The group is made up of Jon and Leslie Ruybalid, Sheree Goertzen, Ian Huebert, Sheila Huebert and Lynn and Daphne Hall
Their first official meeting was held on January 25, that’s according to Daphne’s minutes, and roughly six weeks later… here we are.
Their “Bodega Concept” has turned into the Mercantile, located in the formerly empty side of Service Press.
Sheree and her sister-in-law, Tracy Goertzen, donned their green “Mercantile” (embroidery locally sourced through Tami Peters) aprons and swung open the doors Tuesday afternoon to Henderson’s newest Main Street business.
The group saw a need and have stepped up in a big way to try and fill it.
When asked how the first day had gone, Sheree’s overall response was one of excitement.
“People were just happy to be here! A lot of thank you’s. A lot of ‘We’re really excited that you’re here!’” she shared.
And in the next breath, she stated she needs to bulk up the gluten-free selection.
But that was something she had seen coming.
“You know, I was like, ‘I don’t know what kind of brands people will want.’” explained Sheree.
That’s because the Mercantile is at the very beginning of a long and maybe sometimes steep learning curve so please remember to bear with them.
But according to Hall, “It’s that intentionality right there!” Daphne exclaimed, “The ‘I don’t know what kind of BRANDS people want.’ That’s what’s going to make the difference. Just asking that kind of thing…”
It’s not necessarily “the kind of thing” a regular grocery store, or Walmart Supercenter would ask.
“I have my gluten-free pretzels coming tomorrow and Sutton Dip,” Sheree added.
Do you all know what Sutton Dip is? That’s apparently layman’s terminology for Fuehrer’s Cheese Spread. Which…. WILL be available at the Mercantile.
And that isn’t all.
Goertzen and Hall take great pride in making every effort to source local or Nebraska grown for many of their products.
For example, they will be carrying Le Quartier pizza crusts (i.e. baked goods from John Quiring’s son’s bakery in Lincoln… you may have heard of it), Peters Poultry will be supplying eggs, they will be getting Stone Quality Produce which is out of the Sutton/Harvard area, Stacy Lynn’s Cinnamon Rolls, Jay Goertzen will be providing honey and Henderson Meat Processors will be providing meat.
There’s Canyon Coffee out of Lincoln, and then popcorn and organic rolled oats that are grown in Canada but milled here at Grain Place Foods in Marquette. Oh, and among many other things, they are working on dry curd. I mean, can you really be considered a market in Henderson if you don’t carry dry curd cottage cheese?
“That’s going to probably be a partnership situation with The Dutch.” Sheree said, “I think the best way to do it is to buy it in bulk and divvy it up.” The wheels … they are always turning I tell you.
That’s also one of the ways the Mercantile will be ordering stock… by piggybacking orders with their west side of the street neighbors, Saltine and The Dutch Kitchen.
Goertzen has even been in contact with another westerner, Jim’s Foods in Aurora, about the “Piggybacking Concept” and they happily agreed to the arrangement. Everybody working together… for the greater good. Food!
“We’re also trying to be good community partners. Not being in competition with, say, the grocery store (such as it was) or the pharmacy,” said Daphne, “We’ve been having conversations with the pharmacy because in some cases we will have similar products, but then we will also have different hours.”
Currently, the Mercantile will be open Monday through Friday from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. and on Saturdays from 8:00 a.m. until noon. The hours are such because Sheree sat in Service Press and watched Main Street for about a year, and saw when the traffic was heaviest, and it was after school and over the dinner hour.
Things may change in the future, but they are starting small for now. They also have a comment box located on the front counter and welcome any suggestions. Just remember to be kind about it.
“We will also be carrying a few “elevated” things.” Daphne continued, “Like our George Brothers Cheese and some of that kind of stuff.”
And according to Daphne, Sheree has also been intentional about her price shopping. “There are some things that are very comparable if not the same price as Walmart. And we do realize everybody is doing Walmart delivery these days. I mean who doesn’t?”
Well, me for one, and apparently Daphne’s mother, Ardith Epp.
“There is the fact that we have an older generation in town that have basically bought the same groceries for fifty years and they’re not going to change.” said Sheree, “And then you have a lot of younger families who come in and they care about organic, they care about ingredients.”
So the plan going forward at the Mercantile is to find a way to meet both groups somewhere in the middle.
One success story already came about Tuesday afternoon when Stacy Dick came in and gave everything a once over and said, “Hmmm… I can buy snacks for my grandkids here.”
Aside from keeping all of those non-GMO grandchildren happy, the Mercantile also plans to work as a sort of hub where local producers can sell their goods.
“The new model right now for farmers’ markets is called the farm stop.” Sheree explained, “So it’s consignment style. Everyone I want to work with, I’m doing consignments. I don’t want to buy your product, but I do want to consign it. We will only keep 30%, and the rest goes back to the grower.”
“So, for example,” Daphne said, “Justin Ott came up to us at the Chamber meeting yesterday, and he sells Berkshire hogs. Emma (his daughter) shows them but they process them, they butcher them. And he’s like ‘So she’s just been kind of selling it to whoever, would you be interested in having some of that?’ He’s got bacon and sausage and we were like absolutely! So we’re small enough that we can do that kind of thing where if you’re a big grocery store you are more locked into what you can provide.”
At this point, you may be wondering when Sheree Goertzen became a grocery store wunderkind? Well her background is actually in local food systems so she does know a thing or two about the plight of rural grocery stores.
“I’ve done projects and press from North Dakota to southern Illinois, and I understand that it’s not going to be a huge market, you’re not going to make a lot of money, but you’re providing such an essential tool to a community. I mean we’re building housing. We want people to live here and we want them to also know that they can get their essentials here.”
“You know, there’s just something about… if you live in a big city, and I lived in Chicago for at least 15 years of my life and then in Seattle for another five, you don’t really get to be a part of anything. But when you come back here… you get to create what you want this community to be. It’s kind of the exciting thing about moving back here. Yes it’s hard but you get to create and matter in a way that sometimes you lose when you’re in the city and just another face in the crowd.”
Cheers to you Sheree, please stay creative.
