After nearly two decades in the grocery store business, brothers Nick and Vito Renfro have opened their own butcher shop: Nick and Vito’s Meat and Deli at 8201 W. Main St. in Belleville, Illinois. The brothers, who co-own the business with their parents Molly Seel and Tony Renfro, held a soft opening Saturday, May 10 and will host a grand opening in June.
Nick Renfro said he and his brother worked for 18 years at Belleville’s Main Street Market. After a change in ownership, the two decided it was time to strike out on their own and found a home in the former Raymond’s Place diner, near West End Creamery. “I always did the meat department, and he did the grocery aspect,” Renfro said. “We love everybody on the west end of town since they supported us for all those years … It’s a close-knit community, and we’d like keep it that way.”
Nick and Vito’s is a full-service butcher shop offering beef, pork and chicken. It also has a deli counter featuring house-made corned beef, roast beef, hams and more, all sliced to order. Sandwiches will be assembled on Fazio’s bread, and classic deli sides include potato salad, cole slaw and, beginning next week, house-made potato chips. Diners can wash down their sandwiches with sodas from Excel Bottling Co., in Breese, Illinois, at one of eight seats inside or at one of the three picnic tables outside. The shop is open to Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
This article appears in May 2014.