Butcher Shop at Westover Market Closing

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by ARLnow.com November 30, 2011 at 10:45 am 4,043 35 Comments

To the dismay of its loyal customers, the butcher shop at Westover Market (5863 Washington Blvd) will be closing this week.

Via an early-morning announcement on Facebook, butcher shop proprietor Bruce Saunders said that he had made the difficult decision to close up shop.

After much thought and soul searching, I’m sorry to inform everyone that as of this week, the Butcher Shop at Westover Market will be closing. Cody and I extend our heartfelt thanks to all of our friends and neighbors in and around Arlington for your support and patronage over the past year and a half. It’s been great to serve you and to have supported our local farmers and their families. Please continue to support these fine farm families and the hard work they do. See ya around town!

Since it launched in 2010, the Saunders-run butcher counter at Westover Market has specialized in premium, locally-sourced meats.

Hat tip to EatMore DrinkMore

CourthouseChris

As long as the beer supply remains unaffected by this… perhaps they can make more room for beer.
Sue

So sorry to hear this terrible news. This is a big loss. All the best to Bruce and Cody.
Meat eater’s wife

My husband will be heard broken!!
- Meat eater’s wife
  
  Make that “heart broken.”
KalashniKEV

Next thing you know it’ll be the baker and the candle stick maker!
- Always Right
  
  Thanks to Big Government. Arlington shouldn’t be surprised the small businesses are leaving us.
Quoth the Raven

Mysteriously, their Facebook feed says “ATTENCION! ATTENCION! Butchershop will be closed for most likely no longer than a week while we reorganize the shop. Thank you.”

So, closing or reorganization?
RJ

Wasn’t even aware of this butcher shop within Westover Market. If I had been, I probably would’ve patronized it.
- BlueSkies
  
  Same here!
- MC 703
  
  Same
- GetReal
  
  I didn’t realize either but had I known I WOULD have patronized. N Arl needs a good butcher!
- arglebargle
  
  If you had went to see it, no you would not have patronized it.
  
  That whole market is just dirty. Which is fine for a beer garden/beer seller. But not fine for a butcher shop.
Lou

Very odd. Patronage and foot traffic in and around the Market has done nothing but increase steadily since they got the restaurant/bar running. Must be some issue external to the Market.
KARLington

Bummer – loved their stuff but every time I walked up to the counter, no one was there and I’d have to hunt down help. Usually, they were drinking beer in the new bar. So either they hurt their own business enough to close up shop or the market was tired of running a tab for them and closed up for them.
Chris

Aw, that sucks. I never got my hands on the habanero bacon or the reisling/lemongrass bacon. This was a high quality butcher shop and it will be missed.

Also, Devon should rotate his beer supply 😉

Some of those hoppy beers are well past good.
- JamesE
  
  HABANERO BACON? My god I need to run over there before it closes!
Sherley

I wished I had known about this, I definitely would have bought stuff there!
novasteve

Given all of the vegan, peanut/gluten allergy liberals living in Arlington, that it lasted as long as it did was a miracle. The only reason why restaurants serving meat survive is because of people from out of the area using them.
- Bluemontsince1961
  
  I don’t know about all that. The vast majority of my friends and neighbors in Arlington are more liberal about most issues than I am, all of them eat meat both at home and when the go out. I’m not sure that Arlington’s meat-serving restaurants stay in business only because out of the area people patronize them. Maybe its just the part of Arlington where I live. Maybe the area where you live has more of the vegan, peanut/gluten allergy types that won’t eat meat?
- Ed
  
  Wow, steve, that may be one for your Best Of compilation. Peanut and gluten issues are related to liberal politics — who knew.
- Schwachkopf Hunter
  
  Found one.
- Hal J
  
  Novasteve, have you discovered some new link between being born with an allergy and being a liberal? How are these two things remotely related? What would a peanut or gluten allergy have to do with meat consumption?
- Quoth the Raven
  
  Steve, I’m a parent of a peanut-allergy kid, and you seem to be equating an allergy with some sort of politically-driven dietary choice. I assure you – if I could, I would love to stop reading ingredient lists every 2 seconds and feed him peanuts until the cows come home. Being a vegan is a choice. Having a peanut allergy is not a choice. Please try to figure out the difference.
  - Bluemontsince1961
    
    +1, Raven.
  - Always Right
    
    Lighten Up!! Nobody is speaking about your child’s allergy.
    - Quoth the Raven
      
      I’m really light already, thanks! My point was that Steve was making some broad-based statement somehow equating an allergy with a politically inspired dietary choice, and then also somehow equating THAT with why a butcher shop was closing.
      
      I was pointing out how idiotic that was, and was merely bringing up my child to show that I know a little bit about allergies. That’s all. Sorry if I’m not light enough!
Tabby

I bought a hoagie from them. Slow service, but a big, big sandwich. (Meat sliced way too thick, unfortunately, but did get my money’s worth.)
shirley

i don’t like going into grocer stores that smell.
NoVapologist

I love this place:

http://theorganicbutcher.com/ml_home.html
- CW
  
  I was about to go in there once, but then I decided that, more likely than not, it fell into the “if you have to think about whether you can afford it, you can’t afford it” category.
GW

To bad, Bruce had some nice product in there. Just another sign that the market will continue to be what it has always been.
AJ

it’s a shame for anyone who was actually able to buy meat there. of the handful of times i tried, it was staffed only once. hard to keep a business running if no one is selling the product, i think.

on the other hand, i used to shop at the organic butcher at least twice a month. they’re always staffed when they say they’ll be open, the butchers know their stuff, and the place is immaculate. plus, the quality of the meat is incredible.
YTK

Sorry to hear about this– NEVER knew it was there!! Maybe if he had advertised more. I definitely would have gone there if I knew it was there!!!
Westover

It was not a very affordable product. I could see them making money supplying many small markets, but trying to set up a full butcher shop there at the prices they charged did not seem a wise business choice to me.
HC Carey

I’m very sorry to hear that. It was pricey, but the meat was truly excellent. We went there at least once a week. I always found the pleasant to deal with. it’s true that sometimes you had to track them down, but I was always glad I did.

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