CLEVELAND — Melissa Khoury, owner of Saucisson butcher shop, said community and connections helped carry her business through the last two years.
“We just celebrated five years in Slavic Village back in March, which is super exciting, especially two years with that being pandemic,” Khoury said.
She said it was actually during the pandemic that she realized just how much of a lifeline her shop was to the Slavic Village community.
“The beginning of the pandemic caused some very abrupt supply chain issues that happened in grocery stores,” she said. “Because we deal directly with our farmers, we didn’t have that same hiccup, right? So we had people calling nonstop like, ‘Do you have ground beef? Do you have this?’… and we were like, ‘Yeah, we have it.’”
Despite coming out of the coronavirus pandemic and into a season affected by inflation, Khoury is determined to continue being a support system for her neighborhood and customers.
“A big step for us toward that was enrolling in accepting food stamps…” she said. “At the beginning of pandemic, there were people that were coming to us pre pandemic, who now all of a sudden were laid off, and they were on assistance.”
That support is extended to other small business owners across the Greater Cleveland area.
“There are ten to 12 different businesses that you can find their products here, ranging from a jam to our pastry friend that works out of here, all the way to local beer, vegetables,” Khoury said.
She said she’s hopeful the impact she’s making helps lead to more investment into Slavic Village and other small businesses.
