More than meat: The Butcher Shop in Sterling in a new space with new offerings

STERLING – Growing things, you might say, is Sterling cattle farmer Dale Pfundstein’s special talent.

It’s a talent he’s applying to his other love, The Butcher Shop, which is growing not only into a larger space, but also in the types of food it will be offering.

In addition to selling its usual variety of custom cut, deli and other meats and meat bundles, frozen soups and veggies, potato dishes, pies rubs and spices, The Butcher Shop has or will be adding a by-the-pound salad bar – using locally grown greens – hot soups and deli sandwiches, a hot dog roller, Gino’s pizza and an expanded cheese line form Avanti Foods in Walnut, even more baked goods in a new partnership with Folsom’s Bakery in Rock Falls, and eggs from local farmer Chuck Gaumer and Gaumer Family Farms’ free-range chickens.

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Owner Dale Pfundstein and manager Lori Walker are excited to be able to expand The Butcher Shop for their customers. (Alex T. Paschal - apaschal@shawmedia.com/credit)

It will be a one-stop spot for all kinds of grab-and-go items, with as many as possible coming from local sources, Pfundstein and manager Lori Walker said.

In fact, much of the shop’s fresh beef comes from Pfundstein’s own 100-plus-year-old farm, which he cuts himself at the shop.

For now, it’s all sold carry-out only, but in the future, they may install a standup counter by the windows, where people can grab a quick bite.

“That’s something that we’re looking at,” Walker said.

The shop is the offspring of the original Butcher Shop, which was open for more than 50 years as the retail arm of Rock River Provision, in the rural Route 30 locale.

Then-owner David Hoffman was forced to close the family business in 2009, thanks to the recession, but Pfundstein and his late wife, Pattie, saw a need and reopened it on Nov. 17, 2017.

They opened the second site in Sterling, in the busy Lincolnway business corridor, on April 11, 2019.

On April 10, the shop moved a few blocks east, into the much larger old Sears store, or, as it was known more recently, the former Sterling Furniture store, at 3606 E. Lincolnway.

That means the other two locations, at 2501 E. Lincolnway, and the original site at 3309 W. Rock Falls Road/U.S. Route 30 in Rock Falls, are closed.

He wanted to add more products to his offerings, and he couldn’t expand at either of those sites, which prompted the move, Pfundstein said. That, and “our overhead with the two stores was too much.”

The new space not only is larger, but also is in a high-visibility location with more parking, in the same shopping center as Knie Furniture and Appliances, Eggs in Paradise and the Social Security office, among others.

Not that anyone has had a hard time finding them – their customer base includes regulars from all over the Sauk Valley, from Ogle, Lee, Bureau and Carroll counties, as well as Twin Cities locals, said Walker, who’s been at the shop for three years, the last two-and-a-half as manager.

“We have people from the Dixon-Amboy area, Morrison Prophetstown, Tampico, Milledgeville, Polo ... It’s a good mix.”

She and Pfundstein hope to have all the new features ready to go by the shop’s open house on Friday and Saturday, but what will be available then depends on when they can get the required health department inspection – if not before Friday, then surely sometime within the following two weeks, Walker said.

She’ll post updates on The Butcher Shop’s Facebook page, she said.

Check it out

The Butcher Shop LLC is open from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday at 3606 E. Linconlway in Sterling.

Call 815-632-3931 or email TheButcherShopSRF@gmail.com for item availability or to order ahead.

Owner Dale Pfundstein and his crew also offer local organizations fundraising opportunities.

Meat cutters, packers, stockers and retail workers also are needed at the new site.

Go to butchershopllc.com or find it on Facebook for more information, including photos that are sure to get your mouth a-waterin’.