A name worth using twice
Interior of Minteer’s Too, a café, coffee shop and deli Deana Parry and her husband, Duffy, will open in May in Claysville
Deana Parry, co-owner of Minteer’s Market in Claysville with her husband, Duffy, stocks shelves in the store.
Minteer's Too, owned by Deana and Duffy Parry, is expected to open in May in Claysville.
Following great deliberation, Deana and Duffy Parry purchased Minteer’s Market in Claysville. Operating a local grocery wasn’t the couple’s preferred business plan, but it was a viable opportunity and they embraced it.
The Parrys closed on the store in November 2013, a venerable place that had been a shop of some sort for a century or more. But while focusing on their new business, they did not abandon their initial entrepreneurial urge, which continued to percolate for the better part of the next year.
“We thought that a coffee shop/deli where we would serve sandwiches and ice cream was a very good idea,” said Duffy, who is recognized more formally but less frequently as Wes.
“We wanted to add a deli to the store,” Deana said, “but because the store was built in the 1800s, it would have been a nightmare to do.”
They did not tempt that nightmare of a rehab and, thanks to a subsequent opportunity, the couple should soon realize their java-laced dream.
Minteer’s Too – a coffee shop/deli/ice cream parlor – is under construction in a building catty-corner from their Main Street market. The building’s owners, local entrepreneurs Rick and Terrie Newton, have been renovating it for two years, and when first-floor space – walk-in space – was available for lease, the Parrys signed on.
Although a lot of work is ahead, Minteer’s Too likely will be open within a month. Duffy, assistant director of elections in Washington County, is ticketing May 1 for the kickoff. “But if worse comes to worse,” he said, “I’d like to be open” before the National Pike Festival rolls in May 16-17.
It is an interesting endeavor in an interesting structure with an interesting new name: the Henry Clay Building. Rick Newton, president and founder of Newton Consulting on Main Street, a few hundred yards to the east, renamed it after the 18th-century political leader for whom the borough is named.
When the redo is completed, the former home of Maggi’s News Stand will feature the coffee shop in front, McGuffey Food Pantry behind, and four apartments above – two each on the second and third floors. Carl Group, a brother-in-law of Terrie Newton, is doing the buildout for Minteer’s Too.
Full renovation of the apartments is nearly complete. The Newtons recently had an open house for the units and two were quickly under lease. Rick Newton said the food pantry is functioning there rent-free – “part of our giveback to the community,” he added via email.
Minteer’s Too will occupy 750 square feet and feature deli sandwiches, deli items for purchase, coffee, doughnuts, ice cream and other culinary attractions. Purveyors will include Mancini, 19 Coffee Co., Hershey’s Ice Cream and Donut Connection.
There will be tables, chairs and a couch for leisurely dining, sipping and noshing; a fireplace with gas logs, topped by a decorative mantel purchased at auction; and specialty lighting.
Customers usually will enter from the front, but can use the side entrance, which will primarily serve the apartment dwellers.
Hours will be 6:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.
Terrie Newton, an interior designer, is adding an intriguing imprint on the shop. The back wall is covered with dozens of old cabinet doors.
“I have a similarly styled wall in my bedroom,” she said. “Salvaging is one of my favorite things. I have a 100-year-old house and didn’t want drywall. I wanted something interesting.”
She said she had “a bunch” of old doors in the barn at her nearby home and decided to deploy them in the Parrys’ new enterprise.
“With this old building,” she said, “we wanted to keep as many old features as possible, and where there weren’t any, we decided to add them.”
And the Parrys decided to add a business.
This has been a homecoming for the couple, who have two sons. Deana (pronounced dee-na) grew up in the Lagonda section of South Franklin Township, Duffy in Hickory. Yet it wasn’t certain they would return, for Duffy was a career military guy, frequently on the move. He and his bride have lived in five other states and Panama.
They were in South Dakota when Duffy retired from the Army in 2008, following 211/2 years of service. That’s where their coffee initiative was grounded.
“We had friends who had a coffee shop in South Dakota,” Duffy said. “We thought about maybe retiring there, buying the shop and have Deana run it. But the job market wasn’t such that I could retire and stay.”
So the couple did return to their roots, building a home on his family’s Hickory farm. Both worked, Duffy at several jobs, Deana training medical personnel on computer software and digital X-rays.
Minteer’s Market, meanwhile, went on the market -and stayed there.
“We started looking at things and Minteer’s kept coming up,” Duffy said. “We thought about it, put it off, thought about it, put if off. Finally, we pursued it and it worked out.”
The Parrys closed on the sale 17 months ago, about the time Duffy started with the elections office.
They acquired Claysville’s only grocery, a compact, popular store with substantially stocked shelves and eight employees, two full time. (Some will work at both sites.)
Minteer’s has been Minteer’s for about 50 years, and was a store long before that. At some juncture, perhaps a century ago, it shared the building with a shoe repair shop. Deana pointed to a rough line of bare flooring, running the width of the building, where a wall had separated the two businesses.
It is a convenient store with convenience store-like hours: 5:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday; 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday: 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday.
The Washington County Council on Economic Development assisted the Parrys with both ventures. WCCED teamed with Washington Financial Bank to provide gap financing in the purchase of the market, then provided $50,000 through its microloan program for the new shop.
Executive Director Dan Reitz said WCCED “provides more microloans and distributes more microloan money than (any organization) in West Virginia or Western Pennsylvania.”
“Minteer’s is a nice operation, small but mighty! They want to add things, like a deli and sandwiches, but don’t have room for that (in the store). This will be a nice complement right across the street,” Reitz said.
Soon, Deana and Duffy Parry will be filling cups and filling needs – for customers and themselves.
For more information, call the store at 724-663-5374 or visit facebook.com/pages/Minteers-Market/123827920998079.