Wyoming Meat Market to Open Sister Location

N ext month, Shelbi Nation, owner of Wyoming Meat Market , and her wife, Ashley, will open Rekas Butchery and Delicatessen , named after Nation’s great grandmother, an Italian immigrant who owned and operated a steakhouse in Greenville, Illinois.

Similar to Wyoming Meat Market, Rekas will offer Wagyu beef, whole cow processing, sausages, Italian sandwiches, lasagna, and Italian wines. “All of the farming kind of happens within an hour radius of us,” Shelbi says.

The space spans 2,500 square feet, making it larger than the flagship location, and because of this, Rekas will eventually be able to operate more like an Italian grocery store in selling cheeses, pasta, and seafood.

“Ideally, we really want to capitalize on being an Italian specialty market,” Shelbi says. “Eventually, we will be making our pastas and ravioli. For now, we’re going to partner with Ohio City Pasta.”

Three years ago, Nation bought Wyoming Meat Market from former owner Jim Gelhausen. It took her two years to find the space in Covington, which is located next door to Thai Pavilion on Scott Street. She explains that a number of customers drive from Northern Kentucky to Wyoming, so having a location in Covington made sense.

“We love Covington,” she notes. “We live in Price Hill, but if we ever moved, that’s where we would go. Look at the small businesses that are thriving there. I love the way that economic development is focused on small businesses and promoting small business growth. It’s been important to keep small businesses and not have a bunch of chains or bringing in developers. They’ve really made it a priority to not let it get so commercialized.”

Rekas will have a neighborhood feel with its grab-and-go dinners such as meat loaf, crab cakes, and salmon patties. Everything will be made in Wyoming’s commercial kitchen. It won’t have a bar but instead a bottle shop selling beers—maybe THC-infused ones, if the city will allow it—and natural wines.

“The butcher aspect is always going to be the forefront of that business,” Shelbi says. “What I love and what we want to bring that community is to be a butcher shop, but to expand on some other product lines.”

The couple’s aiming for an early September opening date. Rekas will be a great addition to Covington, as the city doesn’t quite have anything like it right now.

“We’re going to get the meat and the sandwiches and the grab and go going, and then as we start staying open for business, we’ll start filling in the grocery aspect and the wines as we get the licensing approved,” Shelbi says. “We’re going to let this organically kind of fill up. We don’t have investors. It’s a very grassroots kind of business.”

Rekas Butchery and Delicatessen, 401 Scott St., Covington

The post Wyoming Meat Market to Open Sister Location appeared first on Cincinnati Magazine .