ROWLESBURG —
Rowlesburg’s only grocery store has a new name and new owners.
The store was purchased last Monday by two county residents, Bruce Stone and Shawn Wood.
Stone said they are changing the name from Bell’s to the Rowlesburg Mercantile.
The Rowlesburg store was the last in the Belko Foods chain. Earlier, Richard Bell, owner of Belko Foods, said Belko had owned the store since 2003.
“As a wholesaler, we wanted to get out of the retail business and go in a different direction,” he had said. “We are trying to find a buyer so the community is not left without a store.”
Stone said he, too, wanted to keep the store open.
“I didn’t want it to close,” he said. “It was the only store in town. If it closed, people would have to go to Kingwood, Aurora or Oakland (Md.) to shop.”
Stone said he was originally from Kingwood but grew up between Kingwood and Morgantown.
When he and Wood decided to buy Bell’s, he also bought a house in town, where he will live with his 4-year-old son.
“I changed my lifestyle,” Stone said. “I wanted my son to grow up in a smaller town.”
Wood said he worked as a manager in one of the other Belko stores until it closed.
“I knew they were selling this one,” he said. “Bruce and I were talking one day and we decided to buy it.”
Stone, a certified executive chef, said he and Wood want to focus on the grocery and deli side of the mercantile.
“People want fresh subs, salads, sandwiches and to-go items. We want to eventually offer in-store cut meat,” he said.
Stone said they want to make the store look like an old fashioned mercantile.
“We want to carry plumbing supplies and things people need so they don’t have to go to Morgantown, Kingwood or Oakland to find it,” he said.
Stone said thanks to Bell, the store has remained open.
“I think Richard worried about the community and was concerned about the town,” he said. “He wanted someone to buy it that would keep it a grocery store.”
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