Clay County finally has a well stocked fresh produce market and grocery
By Gary Lee Stuber
Mike Sizemore has done it again. Eagle-eyed or elephant-memoried readers of the Clay County Free Press will remember that more than a year ago we published a Spotlight on Mike Sizemore who has a big greenhouse at Maysel on the location of his grandfather’s ‘Sawdust Floor Grocery Mart.’ Now, next door to his big greenhouse, Mike operates a fresh produce market. And that was all it was when he first opened for business last December. But now, it has grown into a full-fledged grocery, and many of the items sold therein can be found nowhere else in Clay County.
The produce is second to none. They have table after table of fresh tomatoes, green peppers, onions, peppers, potatoes, and garlic. And when they are in season, they offer fresh green beans, watermelon, cantaloupe, pumpkin, oranges, bananas, apples, green pears, red pears, and more. You’ll find berries, strawberries, celery, lettuce, cucumbers, even mushrooms and more.
There is even a selection of bulk dry beans, and it’s the only place in Clay County to buy pearl barley (and even beef base for sale to boil your barley in for beef barley soup). No one else in Clay sells beef base. This is also the only store in Clay with a variety of soda pop so wide you can find two different brands of Birch Beer. Seasonings are available here that are sold nowhere else in Clay.
Let’s talk about sub sandwiches. Mike sells a variety of cold meats that can be stacked on a sub. But no one in Clay sells specialty bread for sub buns. That is until Mike added it to his grocery. You can make your own subs here now without running to a grocery in Elkview or Summersville.
“Quality of life,” Mike says. “I said if I were going to open a grocery store, what would I stock it with? These are the things I think improve life in Clay County.” Fresh vegetables. Fresh fruits. Items you can’t buy anywhere else in Clay. And you won’t pay more here than you would if you actually ran to Elkview or Summersville.
Mike doesn’t want to be known for selling “cheap” produce. “I’m selling quality produce, quality food,” he insists, “I just price it as reasonably as I can.” He can, except with the occasional assist from father or son, Mike is the only employee. He isn’t just building a grocery, he is building a legacy. As previously noted, Mike’s two businesses sit where Jack and Marm Sizemore ran a grocery for decades. His great, great grandfather John ran a big grocery store at the other end of Clay in 1919. The building was across from the present Clay Farm Bureau.
If there is anything lacking in this grocery store, it would be that Mike has no fresh or frozen chicken, beef or pork (deli meats, fresh sausage, or fresh Italian sausages aside), but it is in the plans. Eventually, Mikes store could be your one stop grocery place for the month. Mike dreams big, but as you can see, he delivers big too.
