The changing American butcher shop

This article appeared in my local newspaper yesterday and I found it pretty interesting.  It's about the changing tastes and demands of Americans and how they've affected the local meat industry, and I'm sure these changes are happening in many other places, too.

Yeah.................used to be I could get a nice slab of bacon nearby...........now i have to drive 30 miles or order it 3-5 days in advance
 

We have a cool new artisan butcher shop in in little Ashlandia-
boultonandson.com

We are lucky to have an Italian specialty store/butcher shop nearby.  It's so much nicer to buy meat there as opposed to picking up a package at the supermarket.

I'm not aware of a butcher shop in Knoxville ( speak up, Sundancer, if you know of one).  I find it really sad

Out here by me there are a couple.Penshorn's in Marion;and Granzin's in New Braunfels Both have been here for ages and are family run.This area has a lot of germans as well as Czechs,Hungarians and others so that maybe why they are still in business.I've lived here since 1971,which is 41 years;and these places were here before we moved back to the San Antonio after living on Fort George Meade Army Base in Maryland.
There is also Culebra and La Miochan Meat markets,whi,ch are mexican ;they also sell some other things too.I'm sure if i was looking for a specific thing they could help me out.

We have several in the area:
Raber Packing Company on Farmington Road has been in business since 1954.
Alwan & Sons Meat Company on War Memorial Drive
Pottstown Meat & Deli

This is my neighborhood shop:
http://www.liehsandsteigerwald.com/Home.html
You can get prepared cabbage rolls and some salads (killer German potato salad)...but that's about it for prepared food. They have awesome sausages and hotdogs. We had some of their pork chops for Christmas Eve dinner last night.

neat article here about Local Pig in KC
 In Kansas City, a Butcher Shop Teaches the Butcher’s Art - NYTimes.com
 

Grew up in Davenport, Iowa - there was a butcher shop called The Olde Smokehouse on the corner of Locust and Marquette.  Wonderful small place that always smelled of meat and smoke and seasonings.  My mom and I would drop by there after piano lessons and pick up paper-wrapped packages of sausage, beef, pork, whatever. 
 
Yeah, it vanished years ago.

This is the best I know of around here but it's 9 miles away and I hardly ever go that way.
http://elburnmarket.com/

Growing up and having lived in the NY Metro area all my life, "Butcher Shop" to me can be three diiferent types of "meat stores".
 
There's the German and Polish butcher shops, of which there are several within a 1/2 hour drive, and I do go to them several times a year for Kielbasa and/or Bratwurst/Hot Dogs, etc.
 
Then there's the Italian Butcher shops, where I will buy Italian Sausages, Deli Meats, Rice Balls (with meat) etc.
 
I won't buy any of the above types of meat in a Supermarket, there are too many better (and often cheaper) options around here.
 
And third is the old-line Butcher Shop, for steaks, chops, etc.  Those are few and far between, although there is one right here in Scotch Plains that has a statewide reputation:
 
http://www.johnsmarket.com/
 
Truth be told, in the 14 years we've lived here we've only been twice. The prices are astronomical, and basically, the prime selections at Costco are just about as good, and about 1/2 the price, and I can pick out exactly what I want without wasting anyone else's time.

There is a really great one not too far from me in Mt. Airy Md. They make my Garlic Jalapeno and Garlic Lamb Sausage for me, on a seasonal basis.

The butcher from Local Pig dressed out a pig at our library in Overland Park last November. I posted about it happening and was planning to attend but got called into work. I thought that it was interesting about the butchers talking about people buying a side of beef in the old days. A couple of years ago I was visiting family in Germantown, MD. We were driving in the country about 10 miles west when I noticed that a lot of the farmers had signs out advertising sides of beef for sale.

Black Earth Meats, mentioned in the original article, is doing well but even success comes at a price.