Business & Tech

Ole Store Purchased, Reopening as Restaurant

A new restaurant from proprietor Chuck Pryor is slated to open in June.

The Ole Store is back in business.

Chuck Pryor, proprietor of the Tavern of Northfield Restaurant & Lounge and The Grand Event Center, has purchased the building and plans to reopen it mid-June as the Ole Store Restaurant. Keeping the Ole Store name was imperative, he said.

The most recent incarnation of the longtime Northfield establishment, known as the Ole Café, closed in February.

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Pryor, a lifelong Northfielder, said the Ole Store is part of Northfield’s fabric and it is important for it to be open.

“The Ole Store has its own character and ambience that you can’t have anywhere else,” he said Thursday. “We’ve seen the Ole Store be successful by several different owners and it needs to be again. … We want to make it a destination again.”

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Remodeling of the building starts this week. Among the changes will be the addition of some custom booths and the removal of the cafeteria line in favor a more traditional cooking line. In the summer, work on a patio begins for patrons who want to eat outside.

And while the menu is still being rounded out, Tavern general manager Deanna Sharp, who worked at the Ole Store in the mid-80s as a high-schooler and is ecstatic to go back, said the hope is to offer something that can’t be found elsewhere in Northfield.

“The emphasis is really on flavor and being fresh,” she said. “It’ll be a good mix of everything.”

Tavern partner Chris Basina is consulting on the menu, which is scheduled to include, among other things, burgers, steaks, pasta and seafood. As it is with the Tavern, they want to work with as many local purveyors as possible. And, like the Tavern, Pryor said everything will be made from scratch.

Pryor said it’s important to have variety on menus because families don’t always agree on what type of food they want. Though nothing is set in stone, he said dinners will likely fall between $10 and $20.

“There’s definitely a need for a place for people to go and have a good meal for a decent price,” he said. “We’re taking the meats and potatoes and twisting it up.”

And while the restaurant won't feature the Ole Roll—a former owner has the rights to the name—it will have its own version of a sweet roll, Sharp said.

Initially, the restaurant will be open 4-10 p.m., seven days a week. Eventually the hours will expand to include breakfast and lunch. Sharp says the restaurant will tout eight tap beers and a good selection of wines—meant to pair with foods, not as a bar setting.

With the Ole Café closing in February, it joined several other shuttered restaurants in the past year, including , , Tiny’s Hot Dogs, Butler’s Steak & Ale and Wendy’s.

and have since opened, , and Rooms by Tagg 2, FIT to be TRI’d and Body Smith have all moved or made plans to move to storefront locations on Division Street.

Pryor says it could be a reflection of a bounce back for small businesses, but said it’s all about finding a way for customers to feel like they’re getting a good value, specifically in the restaurant industry.

“You’ve got be creative,” he said. “It takes a lot of hard work to do this type of business.”


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