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Brown’s returns to Hamilton with deli business

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By Eric Schwartzberg, Staff Writer 5:36 PM Thursday, January 26, 2012

HAMILTON — John Brown is happy to be back in the belly-filling business.

Brown’s Deli & Beverage, which opened this month at a 4,800-square-foot storefront at 740 NW Washington Boulevard, offers a plethora of culinary delights customers enjoyed at Brown’s Marketplace, which closed on Main Street last October when its lease expired.

Those items include a wide selection of meats, including five or six kinds of turkey loaf and seven kinds of ham, including Schad’s ham, plus a unique fried chicken breast cold cut that “tastes exactly like eating chicken off a bone,” Brown said.

There’s also more than 70 kinds of cheeses that come to the store via Amish and Mennonite suppliers.

“That makes us totally different,” he said. “We do not carry Kahn’s, Boar’s Head or Kraft products, anything like that.”

Business is brisk for the store’s party trays, soups and sandwiches, plus its assortment of Amish-made jams and jellies, soups, noodles and jarred fruits and vegetables.

Also generating business are Mary’s Famous Cheese Balls, which sell for $6.49 per pound and are a fresh, in-house creation of employee Mary Vance.

Offering food and furniture in the same location worked well until October 2008, when signs of the economic downturn became apparent.

“(Selling) the furniture and antiques started to be quite a struggle but the foods and meats and cheeses continued to grow,” Brown said. “People do have to eat, but they don’t have to have furniture and antiques.”

The switch from a larger store to a smaller one has been beneficial, he said.

“The public response has just been overwhelmingly positive,” he said. “They like the smaller size. It’s more user-friendly.”

The store is scheduled to hold a grand opening Monday, complete with a noon ribbon-cutting ceremony, in-store specials, taste testing and more.

Store hours are from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. For more information, call (513) 889-1045 or visit www.brownsdeli.net.

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