LEXINGTON ─ Mary Anne Kettering has at all times tried to remain upbeat, even in laborious instances.
That perspective helped her get by the ups and downs of her enterprise, Mary Anne’s Meat Market, over time. Now, it’ll maintain her keep constructive with a troublesome determination that she simply made ─ placing the meat market up on the market, as a substitute of closing it.
Since placing out the for-sale signal final week, Kettering has obtained loads of calls from prospects asking “what’s fallacious?” or “are you OK?” It was so overwhelming that she determined to clarify it in a video and submit it on the store’s Fb web page. Dozens of individuals commented on the submit with care and finest needs.
Kettering mentioned opening a meat market was her dream as a little bit woman.
“As soon as you narrow meat otherwise you’re on this trade, you both find it irresistible otherwise you hate it. It will get in your blood. I like what I do,” she mentioned. “And if I’ll do it, I wish to do it effectively. So, I do put additional time in. However I take pleasure in what I do.”
She is grateful for the success. However the well being points that accompany the rising enterprise have pressured her to decelerate and finally step down.
She began on the identical location as a deer processor. The constructing had no warmth or a restroom at the moment. 5 years later, she lastly made sufficient cash to open Mary Anne’s Meat Market in March 2007. The store sells steaks, pork chops, rooster breasts and lots of different merchandise.
Mary Anne’s Meat Market opened in March 2007.
The enterprise simply retains booming, she mentioned. However subsequent yr, she broke her leg and ended up in a wheelchair for months. In 2017, an aged girl crashed her automobile into the store. Whereas nobody was injured, the constructing was broken so badly the enterprise needed to keep closed for nearly 14 months.
Together with her resilience, Kettering managed to get by the hardship. The Richland Space Chamber and Financial Growth honored her with the brand new entrepreneurial spirit award in 2019.
Kettering mentioned greater than 1,000 individuals got here to the store on the primary day of its reopening. The group’s assist has floored her over time.
“The primary factor is you deal with individuals proper. You stand behind your product. You stand behind your service. You let individuals know you care. Folks do not care till they know you care. I actually actually love my prospects,” she mentioned.
“They don’t seem to be simply prospects. Most of them are like pals or households to me. I am gonna miss them horribly.”
Her prospects understood her determination to promote the enterprise. They instructed her they love her and recognize her service. They need her to seek out some pleasure after the sale is accomplished, which Kettering mentioned means lots to her.
She mentioned she is promoting the title with the enterprise, together with the meat freezer and different tools. She needed to make the transition simpler for everybody. The customer won’t “miss a beat.”
Kettering mentioned she is gloomy but additionally excited concerning the change.
“Generally, we’re pressured to make selections we do not wish to make. However I belief God. When he closes one door, he at all times opens one other,” she mentioned.
Kettering believed she’s going to keep busy after leaving the enterprise. She needed to go to a seminary and maybe train sooner or later. She may also be working at her farm and, most significantly, spending extra time together with her household.
Anybody inquisitive about shopping for Mary Anne’s Meat Market can contact Whatman Realtors at 419-756-8012 for extra info.
