Beau Mart will cash in its chips – and coveted dip – Friday
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
The Beau Mart, which sits at 1075 E. Beau St. in South Strabane Township, will close Friday.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Bob Podreski checks out customers Monday afternoon at Beau Mart.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
The interior of Beau Mart
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Marna Day, owner of Beau Mart, works the deli counter Monday afternoon.
One of the most convenient of convenience stores is on the verge of closing.
“Friday will be our last day,” said Marna Day, owner of Beau Mart, which will shut down at 3 that afternoon.
Day said there were “multiple reasons” for the closure of the store, the most prominent being “it’s really hard to find employees.”
We had to cut hours,” she said. “We wanted to stay open until 8 or 9 (p.m.)”
Beau Mart’s current hours are 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday; and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays. The store is closed Sundays.
Day said she has been trying to sell the popular store for two years, but that has proved to be difficult in this day and age.
“We got some nibbles,” she said, “but nobody wanted to commit.”
Deciding to close, Day said, wasn’t because of a lack of customers.
“We stayed open (during the pandemic) and actually thrived,” she said. “We kept our customer base.”
The market has served as a grocery, deli, kitchen, gift shop, snack stop and lottery outlet, locally recognized for its Beau Dip and chicken salad sandwiches. It sits at 1075 E. Beau St., on a three-quarters-of-an-acre tract in South Strabane Township, a short commute from downtown Washington, Route 19 and Interstate 70.
Day purchased Beau Mart in July 2016, when she closed on a deal with Susan Angelini, the previous owner. No one seems to know the full history of the store, although Angelini, the owner for 18 years, submitted a photo to the Observer-Reporter dating to the mid-1940s.
The photo features a family in front of a car with what appears to be a gas-rationing sticker on the windshield. Esso pumps are in the background.
In an interview before selling five years ago, Angelini said she used 40 pounds of chicken breast a week to create those sandwiches and chicken noodle soup.
Buying Beau Mart enabled Day to pursue a passion. She was a dedicated foodie who wanted to run a shop where she could prepare and sell sandwiches, salads, soups and desserts. Her husband Scott, co-owner of Day Insurance Agency in Washington, found out about a location that was for sale and could appropriately satisfy her culinary dream.
Scott drove her to Beau Mart, which Marna had never visited. She was sold and so, shortly thereafter, was the two-story structure.
Two years later, Marna commissioned a major renovation of Beau Mart, which included new flooring, counter top, roofing and siding.
Shuttering the shop, she said, is a “bittersweet” occurrence. She liked the place, but it was time-consuming and there were challenges. Marna now will more time to help her daughter, who recently had a baby. The Days, who have four adult children, also are increasing their involvement in homesteading at their Amwell Township farm.
Homesteading is defined as “a lifestyle of self-sufficiency … characterized by subsistence agriculture and home preservation of food.” Marna Day said the family is involved with growing animals, gardening and beehives.
Friday will, indeed, be a bittersweet conclusion – for Marna Day and her devoted customers.