Normally, I would not write a whole article about a small restaurant or a new convenience store. But, the new owner of The Sub Shop is going to great lengths that will help lessen the food desert situation in Gordonville and Sherwood Shores, Texas, and Willis, Oklahoma, on SH 377 on the west side of Lake Texoma. Unfortunately, the new owners of the Sherwood Food Mart are not aware of their indifference to local residents. However, the Sherwood Food Mart owners are doing their best with the limited choices of vendors in our region. 

The Sub Shop

940-372-8346

Thomas Ladieri is a true Italian who is opening a submarine sandwich shop in Sherwood Shores simply called The Sub Shop. He is experiencing issues with the Grayson County Health Department even though he has gone above and beyond what they require. I have seen his applications and the store. Tom has dotted everyone of their I’s and crossed all of their T’s.The food is amazing! Tom knows his German, Italian, and Texas cuisine. Everything is fresh. Fresh meats include beef, chicken, ham, meatballs, pork loin, salami, and turkey, plus German sausage from Fischer’s in Muenster, Texas.

Tom’s German menu consists of pork loin shnetzel and chicken or pork loin gulasch.

The Italian dinners and sandwiches feature what Tom calls the Parmesans: meatball, chicken, and pork loin. Pasta salads are made with fresh cold cut meats and grilled chicken. Also, he will serve fresh soups of the day and a house salad.

The Texas menu features pulled pork dinners, chicken fried steak with coleslaw and potato salad, chicken wings, and pork loin with sides like mixed veggies.

Four Months Later...

Tom Ladieri's Sub Shop is blowing the Gordonville/Sherwood Shores/Willis community away with his awesome unique style of his menu and his super-fantastic neighborhood food reviews. The highway road traffic is picking up on his great take-out menu as well. 

The Willis Store

This store is mainly a convenience store, but it sells fresh roast beef, ham, and turkey, plus American, cheddar, and pepper-jack cheese. Bryan, the owner, and his employee, Danny, are a blast and will help anyone with anything they can offer...even sending a customer to Fobb Bottom to jump off a dead battery for another customer who left their lights on...

The Sherwood Food Mart

Kazi Fattah and Sham Sudduha bought the old Mitchell's Grocery Store that was sold eight or so years ago by Harold Mitchell to foreign investors. They leased their kitchen out to Faez Areef. This store changed owners several times and the building began to fall into shambles. Kazi and Sham spent a huge sum of money to bring the old store up to well-constructed and clean standards.

When I first wrote this article, Kazi told me that they wanted to turn this store around to something that our neighborhood could be proud of. The building, the store, and the kitchen are in great shape. We can be proud of their building. 

The absolutely best thing the Sherwood Foodmart sells is fresh vegetables and fruit! They have applied for a SNAP permit (food stamps). They are selling fresh veggies and fruit as they are available through our limited vendors. 

Sherwood Foodmart and Kitchen

Faez Areef leases the kitchen. With 32 years of restaurant experience from Sodexo restaurant service at the Toyota corporate headquarters, Applebees, Bennigans, Black Eyed Pea, and Kettle, his menu is extremely tasty.

Our Sherwood Shores locals and workers driving through the 377 corridor are enthusiastic about this kitchen and have no complaints. Faez's kitchen is extremely sanitary. Faez is a great cook when he's there. Their employee turnover time has proven to be frequent.

Businesses Who Support Our Texomaland Locals Equal Wintertime Sales

Four Months Later...

Kazi, Sham, and Faez do not live here, and they are frequently absent from their store and leaving the store to be managed by underpaid employees most of the time. These employees are working their you-know-whats off. The owners have not integrated themselves into our neighborhood and may find that their local labor pool will run out of steam if they continue to be absent. They do not seem to communicate well with employees or neighborhood residents.

Businesses in Texomaland food deserts have to depend on local dollars in the fall, winter, and early spring months. I would like to see Sham, Kazi, and Faez interact more with our local community and support our neighborhood by communicating with our local organizations to find out what our community is lacking. Donating a few dollars to local causes will up their community status and sales during the slow season. 

Their first-hired employees who chose to quit within the first six months of their operations have shown that treating the local labor pool well takes a lot more dedication than spending a fortune to resurrect an old building and business. 

Food Deserts

Every since Harold Mitchell sold his Mitchell’s Grocery Store in Sherwood Shores to convenience store owners, the three communities of Gordonville, Sherwood Shores, and Willis have been literally starving for fresh vegetables and meats. Most people go to Madill or Sherman/Dennison once or twice a month to stock up on food supplies, but forget buying ice cream in the summertime. 

Dollar General made it a little easier to buy quick meals, but their groceries are not in the least bit healthy. I called and emailed the Dollar General corporate office to talk to them about the food desert communities they serve to see if they have any plans to offer healthier food, but they ignored me.

There are many communities in Texomaland that are food deserts. Low-income, disabled, and elderly people are the most seriously affected populations in food deserts. I have seriously craved for a salad or even a fresh tomato between trips to town but had to wait. I used to plant a garden, but now my disability keeps me from being able to maintain one. Another serious problem with obtaining fresh groceries in rural areas is finding vendors who will deliver.

An estimated 23.5 to 29 million Americans live in food deserts. The USDA defines a food desert as an area where at least 500 people live more than a mile from a supermarket. The U.S. was expected to spend $344 billion on obesity-related issues in 2018. (1)

From: Author and Food Activist Mark Winne

Obesity levels in rural food deserts are much higher than in metro areas. Rural areas are traditionally associated with self-reliance and growing gardens and hunting. Up until not too long ago, you would make a trip into town once a month and load up on...50# sacks of flour, beans, coffee, and go back to the homestead where you would be producing most of your food otherwise...That has disappeared. People have lost their food production skills in rural areas in the same way they have lost those skills in urban areas. (2)

Sources

(1) https://www.organicauthority.com/buzz-news/opening-supermarkets-in-food-deserts-improves-health-of-residents-even-if-they-dont-buy-healthier-food

(2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fC2I12etS4I