Fleishers
The Butcher: Fleisher's Grass-fed and Organic Meats
The traditional butcher shop is fading from American society as shoppers buy meat at supermarkets instead of at independent shops. In 2006, 5 percent of supermarket shoppers purchased meat in butcher shops, according to a survey conducted by the American Meat Institute and the Food Marketing Institute, two trade organizations. Today's estimates stand at just 2 percent.
Since it opened in 2004, Kingston (N.Y.)-based Fleisher's Grass-fed and Organic Meats has grown each year, according to husband-and-wife team Joshua and Jessica Applestone. Open Thursday through Saturday, their butcher shop sells local, pasture-raised meat at premium prices to local and weekend customers. The shop's slowest year was 2008, when butcher sales grew just 92 percent from the year before, says Joshua Applestone. "We don't do advertising," he says. "We just go by word-of-mouth. If you are good at something -- and you don't do anything but that -- people will notice."
(Corrects the days the shop is open.)
Since it opened in 2004, Kingston (N.Y.)-based Fleisher's Grass-fed and Organic Meats has grown each year, according to husband-and-wife team Joshua and Jessica Applestone. Open Thursday through Saturday, their butcher shop sells local, pasture-raised meat at premium prices to local and weekend customers. The shop's slowest year was 2008, when butcher sales grew just 92 percent from the year before, says Joshua Applestone. "We don't do advertising," he says. "We just go by word-of-mouth. If you are good at something -- and you don't do anything but that -- people will notice."
(Corrects the days the shop is open.)
