The management at ROAR, 633 N. Liberty St., has made a few changes, including moving Ronnie's Country Store away from the front of the building.
When the glass-front space emptied recently, some people thought Ronnie's had closed, but that's not the case. "We didn't close Ronnie's. We just relocated it inside ROAR," said Joseph Correll, operating partner of Mayfair Hospitality Group.
Ronnie's used to be on Cherry Street for many years, and it was a staple of the downtown community or anyone else looking for old-fashioned country ham, dried beans, collard beans and other Southern foods. Simon Burgess, the founder of Mayfair, bought the business in December 2021 after owner Ronnie Horton retired, and decided to move it to a new location. The new Ronnie's opened in ROAR in January of this year with a lot of fanfare — attracting big crowds of longtime fans and regular customers of the old store.
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The new store kept the country ham and other popular items of the old Ronnie's but also added wine, beer, snacks and other items designed to appeal to a new demographic, too. Correll said that ROAR staff learned over the past nine months that what people most wanted were the hams and other Southern classics that were always Ronnie's top sellers. "We learned that 90% of our sales came from 10% of our items," Correll said.
As a result, he said, Ronnie's will no longer carry wine, beer, milk, eggs and other items that weren't selling. That also means it will have.