‘MEAT’ THE NEW BOSS
Shaw’s Meats changing owners; will become Butcher Brothers Manny and Jean Vazquez to take over from longtime owner Jamie Sullivan
WOONSOCKET – A venerable name in the city’s momand-pop butcher biz is about to be retired, along with the guy who’s run the place for over four decades.
Jamie Sullivan, proprietor of Shaw’s Meat Market, 143 North Main St., is hanging up his cleaver. He sold the business this week to Manny and Jean Carlo Vazquez, sibling meat-men who plan, eventually, to rechristen Shaw’s as The Butcher Brothers.
The sale comes about a month after the city’s other Shaw’s – Shaw’s Meats – located at 801 Social St., shut down for good, also due to the retirement of its owner. Brian Shaw was the son of the founder of the Shaw’s Meats stores, a franchise established by Lester Shaw in South Attleboro in 1955 which once had 13 stores in Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts, according to
Sullivan.
“Brian and I discussed it at length,” Sullivan said. “We felt absolutely blessed. We were allowed to work hard and the community supported us.”
Sullivan was working for Shaw’s father at the Social Street store – the fourth in the chain – in the mid-1970s when the founder decided it was too busy and offered him the opportunity to establish another. Sullivan opened the North Main Street store in 1975.
In a city where lower-income residents often struggle to find readily available transportation for trips to the supermarket, Shaw’s Meat Market came to be known as a pedestrian-friendly grocer with affordable cuts of quality meat,
“You know you’re always going to get a good cut of meat.”
poultry, cold-cuts and deli-foods. About 28 percent of
the receipts are supported by food stamps.
Sullivan said he liked to think of Shaw’s as “a common-sense family business that sells meat at affordable prices,” regardless of how customers paid. They voted for Shaw’s not just with their dollars and cents, but their loyalty.
Ida Connolly, for example, has been patronizing Shaw’s Meat Market for more than 40 years.
“You know you’re always going to get a good cut of meat,” Connolly said.
And the meat wasn’t the only thing that kept her coming back. She was crazy about Sullivan’s prepared dishes, like oven-ready seafood dinners and chicken salad that was “out of this world.”
Sullivan seems almost as surprised that he’s sold the store as some of his customers. He hadn’t been planning on it.
“It happened by accident,” he said.
Just a few weeks ago, a mutual meat supplier of Shaw’s and the suitors – both
veterans of Pawtucket’s equally legendary Armando & Sons Meats – was on the phone with Sullivan when he casually inquired whether the business might have a price tag on it.
It didn’t. At least not until Sullivan chewed on the inquiry for a bit.
Sullivan set up a meeting with the prospective buyers and invited them to talk price over a meal at another homegrown brand in the food business – Kay’s Restaurant. Within an hour, they reached a deal. The rest was lawyers and paperwork.
“I know I have big shoes to fill, but I’ll do my best to meet or exceed the expectations,” said Jean Carlo Vazquez, who’s already begun settling in at Shaw’s. He and his brother will keep the name Shaw’s Meat Market above the door for a while, but eventually it will be changed to The Butcher Brothers.
Other than the name, said Vazquez, customers will be hard pressed to notice any changes at the store under the new ownership. All Sullivan’s workers are staying on
as well.
One concern for the Vazquez brothers is that it will take at least another week or so for the state to process their application to accept food stamps. He doesn’t want folks to come to the market and get caught off-guard.
The lag time will also mean a brief financial hurdle for the Vazquez brothers to surmount during a critical time, but Vazquez is worried less about that than making sure the customers are properly served.
“We’ll make it over the hump,” said Vazquez. “I just want to be here for the community and make this a place where they can feel welcome.”
Vazquez is a skilled meat-cutter and former manager of Armando’s, which has operated on Pine Street in Pawtucket for about 16 years. Manny is a buyer for the company and will stay behind until his brother gets the new store up and running. The brothers are originally from Puerto Rico and now reside in Providence. Jean Carlo is also an Army veteran who served in Iraq for a year in 2005.
“These guys are so well qualified and well-positioned, they’re going to serve the city well,” said Sullivan.
Patrons may still see him at work in Shaw’s during the coming days, because Sullivan intends to stay on temporarily to make sure the Vazquez brothers have a smooth transition.
As for retirement, Sullivan hasn’t given it much thought – yet.
“I haven ‘t gotten that far,” he said.