|
| |
|
Weekly Special |
|
|
|
|
|
About Byrds Choice Meats
The buffalo and elk meat are shipped from South Dakota. Some specialty groceries come from Germany. And the alligator, oddly enough, comes from a supplier in Boston, not Florida.
Customers can also buy beef from Iowa, poultry from Pennsylvania and seafood from Canada at Byrd’s Choice meats in Livonia. Said to be the only remaining butcher shop in the city, Byrd’s is approaching 50 years in business.
Owner John Bennett attributes this to loyal customers, the stores good service and quality food.
“They’re the best meat market in Livonia” said Sonja Styles, a Livonia resident. “If I want something special I would go to Byrd’s. … They roast their own turkey breast for sandwiches and you can’t get it anywhere else.”
Styles remembers shopping there as a kid.
The store has moved twice since George Byrd (now retired) opened his butcher shop on Five Mile in 1959. Twelve years later, he moved to the corner of Schoolcraft and Merriman roads. In 1976, Byrd’s moved to its current location, 33066 Seven Mile, next door to another long-running business, Joe’s Produce.
Bennett has been working at Byrd’s since 1984 and became owner in 2000. He began his career in groceries 30 years ago, and was always drawn to the butcher’s counter.
Inside the 4,800-square-foot facility, crews prepare and sell marinated chicken breast, kebobs prepped for grilling, homemade sausage and party trays. The store employs 15 workers.
Check-out counters without conveyor belts and grocery selection that offers the basics make Byrd’s seem like the kind of meat market you would see in a town Up North, not in the middle of a big metro area.
And while Byrd’s can’t beat major chains and super centers on price, Bennett said, it makes up for it in personal service.
“You can’t go into ( a major chain store) and buy a quarter pound of ground chuck or just a few slices of lunch meat,” he said. People are health-conscious these days. Bell and Evans Poultry, raised all-natural with no antibiotics, is popular. Seafood sales are up, Bennett said. More people are trying buffalo, which is leaner and has less cholesterol than beef. But even Bennett has to take customers’ word about the flavor of the alligator, available in the freezer section. “Everybody says it taste like chicken,” he said.
Debbie Adams of Redford discovered Byrd’s four years ago, shopping for Christmas dinner. “I’ve been coming ever since,” she said. Recipes hanging from the meat cases and knowledgeable butchers offer meal-planning suggestions.
On a recent trip, Adams picked up some Andouille sausage. “I don’t like buying meat from the grocery store. I never have,” Adams said. “I like the idea that everything is out. You can see the quality of meat that you are getting.”
Article in Livonia Observer on July 31, 2008 written by Rebecca Jones
.jpg) |
|
|
