Shopper's Corner: Hunks of Meat Cut by Hunky Men

When we moved to Santa Cruz 15 years ago, my new neighbors all raved about Shopper’s Corner Market. By pure luck, we'd moved to a quaint pocket neighborhood not far from the Midtown location of Shopper’s Corner. There we found the produce to be fresh and delicious and the wine selection out-of-this-world. But what has been consistently amazing is the meat, and, of course, the butchers. Their slogan proudly printed on their brown bags says it all, “Where locals have shopped since 1938.”

Over the years, I cannot recall any change in the staffing of the Shopper’s Corner meat cutters. As far as I can tell, the same faces have been behind the meat counter for the past 15 years. There aren’t many businesses in this town that can say that.

I’m not a shy person at all, so it was just natural for me to strike up a conversation with the butchers while I ordered meat for the week. They would offer tips or suggestions on how to cook a certain cut or let me in on the “local secret” about what was really fresh and within my school-teacher budget.

One particular butcher, Cemal (pronounced “Jemal”), became my favorite. I couldn’t figure out his accent. He’s from TURKEY. A butcher from Turkey. Now that’s hilarious. The other butchers would see me coming, and they’d get Cemal from the back if he wasn’t working the counter. I would ask him what I should make for dinner, and he’d make a suggestion. Talk about a mother’s dream. 

Yes, I have a favorite butcher, but I’m not as hard-core about my meat-shopping as you’d think. I don’t need to be, because all of the butchers at Shopper’s are friendly, knowledgeable and helpful. 

With each trip to the market, it became easier and easier for me to have longer and longer conversations with these butchers—so much so that just picking up meat for dinner would take well over an hour. My husband (ironically, a butcher himself after high school) would wonder why it took me an hour to pick out steaks. The truth is out. I’d found friendship at the local market.

A few years back, a friend and I joked about doing a fundraiser for our elementary school by selling The Butchers of Shopper’s Corner Calendar. There’s something to be said for hunky guys with knives.

We were convinced we’d found the answer to the budget cuts in education. I’ve noticed how the women flock to the butcher counter pretending they don’t know how to make meatloaf. Of course, there’s the opposite sex equal.

Young men do the same with the Shopper’s Corner checkers and baggers. This has been proven to me, time and again, when my younger brothers come for a visit from over the hill. Never have they volunteered to grocery shop, but it’s a whole different story when we’re talking about going to Shopper’s. Those two JUMP off the couch to help me shop.

Life has changed for me. The kids are taller than I am now. We moved to Soquel years ago, but I still shop at Shopper’s Corner. I know when I go there I will see my friends and get a chance to wink and smile at a butcher.