Photo by Emery Akin.
Jim Moeller, owner of the New York Butcher Shoppe on Cahaba Valley Road, offers a “one-stop dinner shop.”
Today, being able to step foot in a local grocer, know where your food is coming from and be known by name is a rare thing. However, Jim Moeller, owner of the New York Butcher Shoppe, specializes in that neighborly feel.
“I think a lot of people come in and, when they see it, go, ‘This is great,’ because they don't have that rural community or neighborhood butchers that they used to grow up with back in the day,” Moeller said.
The New York Butcher Shoppe’s Greystone location, on Cahaba Valley Road, is a “one-stop dinner shop,” Moeller said. It offers a selection of fresh meats from family-owned farms across the country, as well as ready-to-bake meals prepared by an in-house chef.
Moeller said the store offers “the best available that the consumer can purchase,” whether that be certified Angus beef, other meats, fine wines, dry rubs, pre-made meals, sides, desserts or dinner rolls.
“We try to bring things in that you may not be able to find at a regular grocery store,” Moeller said.
The shop also offers freshly cut deli meat, which is used in-shop to make sandwiches that are available for pick-up. Moeller said they are always piled high with meat.
“Our goal is to make you have to take a nap afterwards,” he said.
For Moeller, business has always been about people first. After being in the waterworks industry for roughly 25 years, he made a career change.
Moeller opened his first butcher shop in Cahaba Heights in 2010, which he saw as an opportunity to expand his “entrepreneurial spirit.”
“I wanted to be home more, I was always out on the road,” Moeller said. “I lived in Birmingham but I didn’t know anybody.”
Opening a second location was even a customer-centered decision. When Moeller realized that some of his customers didn’t want to brave the busy 280 corridor, he opened a second location in Greystone in 2019.
“We had a lot of good customers and a lot of good friends out this way, so we thought, well, let's just open up here and make it easier and convenient for them,” Moeller said.
Today, it feels like Moeller knows everybody. His Cahaba Heights location remains the longest-running franchisee in the company and has helped him make up for lost time connecting with people.
“We get to know everybody really well,” he said. “We know when people are having babies and grandbabies. We know when people are graduating. I've got several customers of mine that their kids were in middle school on their baseball team and now they’ve graduated college, and it’s like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe it.’”
For more information about the shop, go online to local.nybutcher.com/birmingham-greystone.
