BUCYRUS—If you’re looking for a place with small-town charm, look no further than Pickwick Place on Route 4, north of Bucyrus.
In 2015 when Pickwick went up for sale, Kent and Laura Stuckey were approached about buying it, and they knew it was an offer they couldn’t turn down.
When it came time to decide what to do with the buildings, a market was the first thing they knew they were going to make.
“My husband Ethan got the idea that he wanted to grow some produce, and they all knew they needed a good location to sell the produce if he was to grow it. We knew for sure we were going to have a market,” Hannah Stuckey, part-owner of Pickwick, said.
Following that came the event space.
“The event space kind of came out of when Laura walked upstairs in the loft in the beautiful brick walls and the ceiling, and she could just see it as an event space, even in the mess that it was when they purchased the property, but she kind of saw the vision for an event space and the area really needed a place like that,” Hannah said.
In time, the idea for The Stalls finally fell into place, “The Stalls, we really didn’t know what to do with that and we didn’t have an idea right away, until in 2018 the idea kind of came for The Stalls, which is our vendor space, and I think it was just a combination of people’s ideas and we had people interested and we needed something like that in the area, so that’s kind of where that came from,” Hannah said.
The Stalls, The Cafe, The Market, and The Loft, all boasting a family-friendly, comfortable, small-town atmosphere, is meant to be a destination for families to meet and spend time.
“It’s been fun to see people coming to gather and meet friends here and get lunch. We just hope that that continues in the future where people can just come for an afternoon and meet a friend, do some shopping at The Stalls, or The Market. Our goal really is to be a happy place for people to come for the community to gather,” Hannah said.
Hannah’s pride and joy, however, would be The Market and The Cafe, which beginning around last October and ending in early April, recently went under a little bit of a renovation to accommodate the growing business.
“Over the last couple of years, we kind of have just outgrown The Market and the flow of The Market just never really made sense, it was such a narrow building, that we kind of all along knew that we wanted at some point to expand, and ever since COVID really, we’ve seen an explosion in business, which we are super thankful for. So, the timing just kind of worked out over the winter to do construction and to add The Cafe and then to add the expansion on The Market as well just to give it some more space to sell products,” Hannah said.
For the past five years, Pickwick has been using a food trailer to serve some of their unique and delicious recipes, but with the business growing and their trailer getting too small for what they wanted to do, they knew they needed to expand into what is now known as The Cafe.
Hannah, a part-owner of The Cafe, has been the mastermind behind The Cafe’s eclectic menu.
“I’ve always loved cooking and trying new recipes – I’m kind of a foodie, as my sister would call me, so it’s just been a combination of just getting inspiration from walking around the market, and I like going to other restaurants when I’m traveling and trying ideas, so it’s just kind of been a combination of foods that I like and what we sell, and the people in the kitchen helping come up with recipes and ideas,” Hannah said.
One of the items on the menu, the orange cranberry club, was one that was created when Hannah was walking around the market and saw their orange cranberry sauce and decided to throw it on a croissant with ham and turkey.
“I’ve just always enjoyed being in the kitchen and cooking so this has been really fun to create the menu. My goal is that there’s something for everybody – we have some more unique things, but also some things for people who aren’t quite as adventurous,” Hannah said.
The menu has its core items, and then each week, there will be a weekly breakfast and lunch special.
“My goal with the menu because I am the one who has developed it, is to highlight the products that we sell at The Market to give people a chance to try some of the sauces, the jams, and obviously the produce that Ethan grows and we sell. So, my goal is to have a base of sandwiches and salads that we use those products in, and then every week we will have a breakfast special and a lunch special that will rotate each week.”
The Cafe is open Wednesday through Monday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and is closed on Tuesdays.
The Stalls and The Market are open Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
