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• Author: Felix, Devin
• Position: UB Digital

Town and Country Market: Reliably Delicious

Town and Country Market was fresh and local before fresh and local were cool. The shop has served sandwiches, salads, soups and other snacks to hungry customers in South Salt Lake for decades. In a world of identical fast food franchises and slick marketing campaigns, Town and Country is distinctive, unassuming and beloved.

Town and Country opened in the 1950s as a fruit market. Eventually, new owners started selling sandwiches, and in 1988, current owner Dennis Michelson bought the store. Since then, not much has changed. 6 41. I I

not much has changed.

Michelson has resisted any suggestion that he update the shop to make it look more polished. The sign from the original fruit market still stands outside. The floor is still concrete. The signs showing prices are still hand-written. The space around the sandwich counter is covered with years' worth of pictures, photo-copied jokes and yellowing comic strips clipped from newspapers that customers have brought in. Salespeople have occasionally tried to convince Michelson to replace the old, fading "fruit" sign out front with something newer. But he always insists that he wouldn't replace it even if someone gave him a brand new one for free. It's part of the store.

Town and Country doesn't need to look fancy or refined or spend money on branding because it's got something businesses crave: a devoted base of customers who keep coming back. Most of the store's regulars work at businesses nearby and many come in weekly or even more often. It attracts all kinds of people, says Stephanie Mackay, one of those who recommended Town and Country on the Utah Business Facebook page. "The owners are always so welcoming," Mackay says. "When you see the cross-section of people in line getting ready to order their sandwiches, you know it is appealing to all."

Michelson says running the market has allowed him to make friends and meet all kinds of people he wouldn't have been able to otherwise. He once encountered a woman while on a cruise who lived in New York but recognized him as the sandwich guy from a brief period when she lived in Utah and worked in South Salt Lake. Meeting so many...