Although Ronnie\u2019s Country Store is gone from N. Cherry Street, it is not gone for good. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The business has been bought by Mayfair Street Partners, which will move the store to the former Woolworth building, at 408 N. Liberty St.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Renovation work has started on the Woolworth building and Ronnie\u2019s is likely to re-open in about six months, according to Simon Burgess, the Managing Director at Mayfair Street Partners. The new Ronnie\u2019s is over 9,000 square feet, four times the size of the original Ronnie\u2019s. The empty building where Ronnie\u2019s used to be is for sale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To Burgess, the building that housed Ronnie\u2019s, 642 N. Cherry St., was in very bad condition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI [didn\u2019t] want to buy the building. I [wanted] to buy the business [and] I have a better building in the center of Winston-Salem,\u201d said Burgess. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To some downtown residents, the impact of the closing and relocation of Ronnie\u2019s is deep. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe need that store back,\u201d said a resident of Crystal Towers who would identify himself only as Mr. Kelly. \u201cTo get groceries, now we have to take the bus and go to Food Lion.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said that to the residents of Crystal Towers, Ronnie\u2019s was a place for fresh produce and ham. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI remember sending friends to get some [collard] greens,\u201d said Kelly. \u201cWe all went to that store for years and it was so convenient.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not your typical grocery store, Ronnie\u2019s was an old-timey grocery store that carried Southern staples.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou can get collard greens, anywhere in Winston-Salem, but you can’t get a lot of the other types of greens that they sold at Ronnie’s,\u201d said Ken Otterbourg, a journalist and downtown resident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the sidewalk to Ronnie\u2019s, one could find fresh fruits and vegetables. Once inside, you would get a distinct scent of country ham. There was a wood rack filled with whole hams and a meat counter to get it cut. There were also barrels full of different types of dried beans and bins filled with hard candy. Shelves of canned goods and other products lined the faded green walls. Antique tools and old paintings decorated any remaining wall space. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey had cough syrup that you couldn’t get anywhere else as far as I can tell,\u201d said Otterbourg. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The store opened in 1925 as W.G. White\u2019s, a grocery store specializing in fresh produce and country ham. After a fire destroyed the business, White\u2019s moved to 642 N. Cherry St. where it was later bought by Ronnie Horton, in 1994. After the sale, the place was renamed as Ronnie\u2019s Country Store but all other parts of the business remained the same. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a beloved part of downtown,\u201d said Jason Thiel, the president of Downtown Winston-Salem Partnership.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After almost three decades of running Ronnie\u2019s, Ronnie Horton, now 73, has decided to retire. COVID-19 also had some sway. Ronnie\u2019s used to be open five days a week, closed Wednesday and Sunday, but by 2021 the store was only open Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Selling Ronnie\u2019s is a way of keeping the store alive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe idea is to create a Ronnie\u2019s country store, but just expand the provisions there,\u201d said Burgess. \u201cAll the memorabilia that you saw on the walls, the paintings, the antiques, we’ve got all of them as part of the business.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ham, which was a staple of Ronnie’s, will continue to be sold at the new location. Other types of ham will also be offered in conjunction with the original ham. Apart from ham, the new space allows for a larger variety of goods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere’s some other items too. Things like really high end ground coffee, some nice breads, provisions; those are things that we feel like we can expand,\u201d said Joseph Correll, Director of Food and Beverage at Mayfair Street Partners. Mayfair Street Partners owns and operates ROAR, Hotel Indigo, Sir Winston Restaurant, and several town-homes in Winston-Salem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although a lot will be kept the same, there is a lot that will be new at Ronnie\u2019s, including an online platform where you can get products shipped to anywhere in the United States and a diner in the back of the store that will serve breakfast and lunch.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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