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Mike, Leeann and Shawn McCamish operate Wild Root Grocery LLC on property that has been in the family since 1939.
Mike, Leeann and Shawn McCamish operate Wild Root Grocery LLC on property that has been in the family since 1939.

Business Spotlight: Built on Nostalgia

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Most people of a certain age can remember the neighborhood grocery, a family-owned and operated store where the proprietors and their customers knew each other, and shopkeepers knew exactly where their fresh produce and meat originated.

Mike McCamish has worked to make sure that’s the atmosphere customers will encounter at Wild Root Grocery, which he opened in January 2011 at 214 N. Stewart Ave.

The store sells only local and Missouri-sourced products, and while that’s important to McCamish, so is the rapport his family – including his wife, Leeann and son, Shawn – have created in the community.

“My wife says this is like Mayberry on a good day,” says Mike McCamish, referring to the fictional southern town featured on the “Andy Griffith Show” in the 1960s.

“She’ll be out tending the flowers in front of the store and people drive by, honk, wave and stop to talk,” he added.

Wild Root is open 10 a.m.–6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, selling foods that include chemical-free meat, produce, eggs, baked goods, spices, as well as coffee, tea, wine and beer.

Though he declined to disclose revenues, McCamish – who is the store’s sole official employee – says the store broke even in its first year.

“We really didn’t set a goal because we didn’t have a clue as to what we would do. We think breaking even is a good sign,” he says, noting that he expects revenues to double in 2012.

Family history
McCamish’s family has a long history at the corner of St. Louis Street and Stewart, where the store is located.

“My grandmother bought the property in 1937 and lived here until the mid-1980s,” he says. “I inherited her property and acquired the lots on both sides.”

McCamish also operates Out of the Woods Inc., a woodworking business and Eastland Farmer’s Market on the property.

“The farmer’s market does well in the summer, but it is seasonal,” he says. “The vendors expressed a desire to have someplace they could sell all year and not have to be here.”

That desire, combined with a growing consumer movement to know where food comes from and to help local small businesses that use locally sourced products, led McCamish to launch Wild Root. He restored a building that had housed cafés and, most recently an insurance agency, and today, Wild Root occupies 2,200 square feet in two buildings.

Larry Gifford, owner of Ozark Mountain Coffee Co., sold coffee and tea products at the Eastland Farmer’s Market and has had coffee, tea and gourmet chocolates in Wild Root since it opened. He’s been pleased with his sales through Wild Root and says he expects 20 percent growth in sales through the store.

“Mike has a real commitment to the area, and (his family’s) three generations there on that land shows they have a commitment to keeping things alive rather than tearing things down,” Gifford says. “They have a real commitment to history and sustainability.”

Beyond the store’s aesthetics, McCamish also is taking a nostalgic approach to marketing his business, relying solely on farmer’s market traffic and word-of-mouth from customers, most of whom McCamish knows by name.

“We decided we wanted to see where it would go, and we didn’t want to spend a lot of money in advertising and not have it work out,” he says, noting that he does expect to invest in some advertising and build a Web site for the store this year.

Local fare
Dawnnell Holmes, a Norwood rancher who with her husband, Cody, owns Real Farm Foods, sells chemical-free, all natural free range beef, pork, lamb, turkey and chicken to Wild Root. She believes consumers’ desires to eat healthier and know where their food originates is driving business for Wild Root.

“When I’m in the store, people are usually there asking questions about the products and that’s good to see,” says Holmes, who also expects her sales to Wild Root to grow by at least 20 percent this year.   

Although natural and organic products typically sell for a higher price than traditional products, McCamish says he works to keep prices as low as possible.

“Our markup is typically 30 percent,” he says. “Sometimes we will go lower just to get something in here, but it’s hardly worth it.”

A challenge for the store is carrying products that can’t always be restocked, due to weather or other production problems his small-business suppliers may face, McCamish says.   

“We want to have a full store that is inviting to the customer,” he adds. “We want their first sense to be that it was worth it to come in.”

Goals for this year include doubling the store’s inventory, McCamish says. Eventually, he’d like to add an on-site café and a commercial kitchen that smaller vendors can rent to make their products, but he’s not in any hurry.

“We are taking it slow and not going into debt,” McCamish says. “We cannot preach sustainability if we’re not sustainable ourselves.”
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