Moody’s moving butcher shop to Zionsville’s village

Moody’s Butcher Shop closed its North Michigan Road strip-mall location last week to prep for a move to larger digs in the heart of Zionsville’s historic village business district.

Plans for the 3,400-square-foot space at 20 E. Cedar St. include a full-service meat counter and an array of other fresh and packaged consumables “with a local preference,” Moody’s founder Adam Moody told IBJ.

There’s even enough room for a juice/smoothie bar.

Georgetown Market founder Rick Montieth recently acquired a stake in the business, Moody said, and the two are working together on the old-fashioned grocery concept in downtown Zionsville.

Moody’s operates three other butcher shops in Avon, Center Grove and Ladoga, where it also processes meat raised on its fifth-generation Montgomery County farm.

The butcher business started in 1997 when Moody started selling his beef, pork, eggs and chicken at farmers markets in Lafayette and Zionsville.

“I always wanted to be on bricks with a big grocery-type store,” Moody said, referring to Zionsville’s brick-paved Main Street, located a block west of his shop.

But these things take time, especially when dealing with an old building. Moody doesn’t expect the full shop to open until February, after “extensive” renovations expected to cost “several hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

“It’s a big project,” he said, “but it’s worth it.”

In the meantime, Moody’s plans to offer express service from its new 320-square-foot storefront, the only habitable portion of the old Village Cleaners next to Hopwood Winery.

When “Moody Meats Limited” opens in mid-October, it will offer a selection of pre-cut, pre-packaged beef, pork and chicken prepared at the Ladoga facility and delivered daily in the company’s refrigerated truck. Special orders will require two days’ notice. Bacon, eggs and a limited array of other self-serve products also will be available.

The Zionsville Redevelopment Commission voted 3-0 Monday to approve Moody’s request for a $25,000 loan to help with moving expenses. The butcher secured the low-interest microloan using $70,000 in equipment as collateral.

“That is the purpose of the microloan program, to help in situations like this,” said commission president Luke Phenicie.