SMALL MEAT MARKETS OFFER UNIQUE PRODUCTS

In an age of supermarkets that can fulfill all the grocery needs of shoppers, small, neighbored specialty shops such as meat markets have all but disappeared.

But those which remain have at least one big selling point -- uniqueness.

Blake Esicar, owner of Esicar's Old Hickory Smokehouse, prides himself on the fact that his products are different from those found in supermarkets.

"That is why you've got to have something special," Esicar said. "Most people like to do one-stop shopping. If you don't have anything special, people will not go out of their way to get it."

Rob Osborn, co-owner of the Meat Shop with his father, Bob Osborn, holds a similar opinion.

"It is very much easier to pick up a loaf of bread, a gallon of milk, seasoning and a steak," Rob Osborn said. "But if the steak is not good, it doesn't matter how quick is was to get it."

Esicar's was founded in Cape Girardeau in 1932 by Blake Esicar's grandfather and has been at its present location on North Kingshighway since 1951. The business has remained in family hands for three generations and its products are still made with the same techniques used by his grandfather.

"My grandmother is 90 years and doesn't have her fingers in the business anymore, but she still comes down to make sure we're doing it right," Esicar said.

Still using old-fashioned wood-burning smokehouses for curing, it takes two months to cure a ham and 20 days to cure bacon. While larger manufacturers can do the job quicker, their products lack that hickory smoked taste, Esicar said.

"We are one of the last of the bigger smokehouses that still uses old-fashioned wood-burning smokehouses," Esicar said. That process removes moisture from the meat rather than adding moisture like larger manufacturers do.

While it has a strong, customer base locally, Esicar's does most of its business through the mail, shipping hams, sausage and other items virtually anywhere.

"We've sent pork to Saudi Arabia and hams to Africa. We've sent our products all around the world. If we can get it there, we ship it," Esicar said.

Most of that business is done with individuals and it keeps growing through word of mouth, he said. Christmas is their busiest time of year on the shipping end; last December they sent out over 2,200 packages.

Owners of the Meat Shop also take pride in their work. The business at 1225 S. Kingshighway opened in 1989.

The Meat Shop makes 94 different products ranging from salads to jerky to ethnic sausage as well as various cuts of fine meats.

"I do not like the concept of it being just a matter of money -- where the profit-and-loss line is. I like the idea of someone coming in here, tasting something they never hear of and wanting to buy it," Rob Osborn said.

He said they don't try to compete with supermarkets; they try to provide something that can't be found elsewhere.

"We get people saying everyday that we are really out of the way, but our customer count also grows steadily every year," Osborn said. Customers have increased from an estimated 400 per week when the Meat Shop opened to 1,300 per week.

"That is a tremendous difference as far as I'm concerned," he said.

The important advantage they have, Osborn said, is they get to know their customers and their customers get to trust them. "Whatever it takes to get the business we will do it," he said.

Osborn said the Meat Shop is the largest processor of deer meat in southern Missouri and has earned that reputation in a short time. When they started that service in 1990, they processed 77 deer for hunters; last year they handled 825.