Along with its new restaurants and bars, the Cotton District will soon see another business open, GourMae’s Grocery on Maxwell Street.
The modestly sized shop will be a first for Starkville, focusing on gourmet foods not available in major grocery stores.
Owner Tony Thompson has been renovating the inside of the former tanning salon, which was also once a Catholic sanctuary. Under the vaulted ceiling, divided by stained wooden beams, Thompson rubbed his foot over the floor to reveal hardwood that had lain under both carpet and tile for many years.
“We didn’t know what we were going to find when we stripped it,” Thompson said.
Thompson said that the building has required more labor than he predicted when he began renting the building from owner Dan Camp.
“We had to tear down 10 rooms,” Thompson said.
With the white powdery layer over the floor and the paint job one-third of the way finished, it was hard to imagine the building as a special foods store.
Thompson calls it the old sanctuary. When the store opens Nov. 1, he will sell his products out of his office behind the recently opened Middle Eastern restaurant Shaherazad’s, also on Maxwell.
Behind the office’s antique living room arrangement lay stacks of some products he will sell.
“I get most of these from Atlanta and New York,” he said. Business partner Barbara Rhoades accompanies him to food shows and discusses certain products to order.
Among them are triple cream cheeses, which cannot be found anywhere else in Starkville. On display so far are whole vanilla beans, honey jelly and a lemon honey that sweetens any hot tea while also giving it a kick. On top of the shelves are brown weaved baskets that will hold gifts that Thompson said he expects to be wrapping.
Items that hadn’t yet arrived were hot tea, fine olive oil and grape seed oil.
Thompson said that he has recently considered selling organic products.
“I’ve gotten several people asking me if I will have organic shelves,” he said. “It’s something I’ve just recently been introduced to, so I’ll have to see.”
“This is a very fun job,” Rhoades said. “I enjoy it because I love food.” Her daughter, Amy Rose, attended the Culinary Institute of America at Hyde Park in New York and now works in wine selection.
“This is post-retirement fun,” Rhoades said.
“There aren’t very many places where this happens,” said Thompson, referring to the concentration of quality in his products. He said the store is for people entertaining with parties and dinners and also for those who live in the Cotton District.
Camp said that a neighborhood grocery is the way to go for any student who wants to save money on gas.
“The prices are a little more expensive than other local groceries, but shopping there still is economically safer than driving to a grocery store,” Camp said. “I want students to not have to crank their cars until they drive home, and this town could use the ambiance of high quality food items,” he added.
“I think Starkville is ready for a specialty foods store,” Thompson said.