Witt Stop comes to Buchanan
The Witt Stop
Christopher Witt, a native of Buchanan, retired from the United States Marine Corp. in 2015, and moved back to Buchanan, VA in 2015 after purchasing his grandparents’ home, Gerald and Christa Witt, at the end of 2015. Over the past three years of owning a home in Buchanan, Chris and his wife, Spring Witt, have spent much time learning the towns policies and processes for businesses to start within the Town limits of Buchanan. We had heard more times that we could count that the only businesses that got approved in Buchanan were antique stores, according to Spring. She went on to elaborate that she didn’t find that statement to be true, but to the contrary antique stores just happened to be the only types of stores people were asking to be approved for business.
“Over the first two years of owning our home, we did extensive remodeling and renovation to preserve the home for the years to come,” Chris explained and continued. ” One of our biggest pet peeves is to look at the bank owned properties to the side of our house and across the street from our house. We spend so much time improving our home and maintaining the yard and to look around and see buildings not at the same stature is just frustrating. So, when we were informed that the old D&J Produce building was going to be up for sale, we really had to think long and hard about buying it.”
Spring described that last October, she had a business plan that she wrote for something similar to what is now The Witt Stop, but she was looking at a different piece of property outside of town limits in Buchanan. After working with a team of consultants, they recommended that she not use that piece of property for the business design because of structural issues that may hinder the business plan. “Several months later, the right property came up for sale, and instead of risking one more building sitting empty or being another antique shop, we decided to jump in and buy the building,” Chris explained.
“After combing all of the things that we had spent months listening to people say they wanted in town and listening to what Town Council in Buchanan felt the voids in town were, we decided to jump on board and put all of our ideas under one roof, so we bought The Witt Stop. The biggest outcry we heard was that Buchanan needed a grocery store, but honestly, the population simply isn’t big enough,” Spring explained. “Most people work either north or south of Buchanan. People are creatures of habit. They are likely not going to drive all the way home after a long day’s work and then shop locally for groceries. They are going to shop at a larger store which can offer lower prices on their way home from work. It’s habit. What I feel people are willing to pay more for is the one thing that you always forget when you are grocery shopping for the week or the one thing you didn’t buy just enough of. ”
Where is The Witt Stop and what do they offer? They are located at 19386 Main Street, Buchanan, VA 24066. Their phone number is (540) 254-8024. What do they do? They do grab and go breakfast and lunch menu to cater to the working folks who do not have a lot of time to wait. They normally do a lunch special on Wednesday’s and Friday’s. They do beer and wine tastings along with off premises beer and wine purchase. They do tobacco sales. They do fresh produce, and fresh baked goods along with jams, jellies, house coffee freshly packing by a local distributor called The Chipped Mug and Black Riffle Coffee. These items are sold retail for everyone’s enjoyment. Whether a latte, cappuccino, coffee, sweet treat, or breakfast sandwich, the Witt Stop has you covered.
“We still have much work to do to the building even though it seems we have already done so much work. We have pulled building permits to build out the wine cellar and we are awaiting the beer and soda cooler deliveries this week” Spring said, “We intend to remodel the beauty salon, which will be Blonde & Company 2, the week of September 14th. Once we get all of this work done, we will move upstairs to create a Hiker Hostel and have it ready for the hiker season next year. So, we have a lot going on, but it is all falling into place as we expected it to. ”
Mark your calendars for October 13th, 2018. This will be their Grand Opening. Weekday hours start at 6 AM, with closing at 6:30 PM Monday through Friday. Saturday and Sunday hours will be part time for the time being and they will be posted on social media day by day for the weekend until they can sort out the time frames needed for the community.
–submitted by Spring Witt Photo courtesy of the Witts
Chris and Spring Witt in front of Witt Stop on Main Street in Buchanan.
