GREENE – In recent years many main street landscapes have seen a marked increased in the number of local shops and restaurants eager to please the individual consumers in addition to stimulating the local economy.
With an emphasis on supporting local vendors, main street merchants keep incomes earned by the community in the community. Shops in our small towns create local employment and entrepreneurs.
Donald and Andrea Cascun, owners of the Cascun Farm in Greene and the newly established Butcher Block and Farm Market in downtown Greene are a prime example of the national focus to “shop local” campaign. “We raise and process our own poultry as well as process other farmers’ poultry, rabbits and game birds in the area,” said Andrea Cascun.
At the couples' downtown location, The Butcher Block, the Cascuns sell a variety of local meats that are brought in as halves and quarters. “The large portions are broken down into specialty cuts, the old fashioned way,” said Cascun. “We hand make our own sausage with custom blended seasoning and make fresh ground beef every day in house.”
In addition to selling meat and poultry raised on the Cascun Farm, The Butcher Block serves as a hub for other venders to offer their locally produced goods to the community for sale. “We also sell and showcase products from other farmers and producers on our shelves,” said Cascun.
While waiting for the butcher to custom cut meat, shoppers can browse the shelves within the shop and find a variation of locally produced items such as pasta, honey, maple syrup as well as jams, milk, eggs and soaps.
The Butcher Block is an excellent destination to visit while shopping for holiday gift giving as the unique shop offers a complete line of gift baskets in all sizes brimming with all local products.
In an economy where service and integrity are often laid by the wayside to stimulate sales corporate dominated businesses, small artisan shops and producers are forging a new trend.
The Butcher Block also serves meals and offers sandwiches, hot paninis, rotisserie chickens and fresh baked breads, and desserts to go.
The Cascuns are fully aware that sustainability is one of the key factors for success for running a small business in a small community, and with that knowledge, they have developed a marketing strategy that aids in operating the storefront.
On any given week, the Cascuns travel at least twice to New York City to deliver their meat products from their farm and butcher shop. “We take both our products and many of the other products from local farmers to restaurants, hotels, private schools, culinary schools in New York City,” said Cascun.
Bringing downstate dollars home to Chenango County only serves to boost the local economy and in turn, the entire community benefits. Small businesses such as The Butcher Block survive by their reputation and repeat business, which means customers will get a higher standard of service.
According to the Retail Merchant’s Association website, another benefit of small locally based businesses is that they are proportionally more generous in their support of local charities schools, and community events. Supporting local shops means a financial contribution to our community.
Shoppers looking to get away from highly processed production-based slaughter house meats found in the big box supermarkets and grocery stores can finally find someplace locally to buy fresh farm raised food for their tables.
The “old-world” styled offerings from the local butcher has become a high demand, and the Cascuns are doing everything they can to give the public what they need. Cascun noted, “We are in the process of acquiring our USDA credentialing for our processing facility located at our farm which will help many of the farmers in our area in growing their own businesses.” Currently, there are no USDA inspected meat processing facilities in the Chenango county area.
“We will be the only the only USDA inspected poultry processing facility open to the public in New York State when the process is finalized, said Cascun.
The Butcher Block is currently open Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The couple plan on extending their hours of operation into the mornings to serve breakfast to those in the Greene area.
For more information, follow The Butcher Block on Facebook at facebook.com/TheButcherBlockandFarmMarket or call 875-4133.