Chop Shutters N. Williams Location to Expand Production

After a year-and-a-half of slinging sandwiches and charcuterie behind Tasty N Sons, Chop Butchery has closed its stand-alone butcher's counter on N. Williams. According to co-owner Eric Finley, the retail shop shuttered on December 30 to make room for an expansion of Chop's USDA-certified curing facility. "We've been picked up by big accounts, so it's either I keep on being small-time, or utilize the rest of that space," Finley says. Thanks to the increase in wholesale accounts, the Williams space will most likely transform into an operation dedicated to salami, while the rest of Chop's products — pate, porchetta — will still be produced at its NW City Market location.

Co-owners Finley and Paula Markus debuted Chop as a City Market counter four years ago, while the now-closed sandwich shop took its spot inside N. Williams' Hub building in May 2011. "It's one of these things where we either [make the change] now, or we do it six months from now," Finley says. "There's not many of us in the country that actually produce this stuff. We'll still do small-batches. It's going to remain a really small-batch product; we're just going to need to grow a little bit more."

Chop Butchery's City Market counter will operate business as usual, and the butchery retains its farmer's market stands at PSU and the winter market.
· Chop Butchery [Official site]
· All Previous Chop Coverage [Eater PDX]

Image of Chop courtesy Avila/EPDX