Most restaurant owners wouldn’t consider opening during a recession, but that’s exactly what Robert and Roseann Glick did when they debuted their 130-seat neighborhood café in the Village of Cross Keys December 2008.
Robert’s mother, Ruth Shaw — of the upscale women’s boutique of the same name that was in Cross Keys for decades — had lamented the lack of a casual café at the suburban shopping center and suggested that someone should open an eatery there, Roseann said.
“It couldn’t have been a worse time to launch a new business, but fortunately for us, we succeeded,” she said. The business caught on quickly and, luckily, the husband-and-wife duo picked the right concept for those lean times: a casual restaurant that serves comfort food. “I think it was to our advantage that we weren’t fine dining,” Roseann said.
At the new Ruxton Mercantile general store, customers can buy activated charcoal toothpaste, throw blankets made on antique looms and merino wool clothing from New Zealand.
