The Shanty’s Little Country Store

The Shanty’s Little Country Store is a business venture that Dimitrios Kallianis had dreamed of for many years.  In this past year, Dimitrios has seen this vision come true. To understand Dimitrios’ vision for The Shanty’s Little Country Store, you need to get some history about The Shanty restaurant and the proprietor Dimitrios. 

Creating the Vision for The Shanty’s Little Country Store

Dimitrios’ vision for, The Shanty’s Little Country Store, began back in the day when he was just a young boy.  Dimitrios was born and raised in the family business and Dimitrios began helping out in the family business when he was very young.  Being around the family business at an early age, Demitrios was guided into acquiring the business skills of cash handling, customer service, and accounting.  Not only did he learn these very important beginning skills for a businessman, he realized that dreaming big and seeing the bigger picture was not an option; it was essential for success.  Dimitrios credits his early understanding of these business essentials and life skills to his success in creating a vision and business plan for his own successful business, The Shanty.

After Dimitrios graduated college, he and his family bought a local neighborhood restaurant, The Shanty, located in Wadsworth, IL.  The Shanty was not just a restaurant, but a well-known watering hole for all the local town folk.  Dimitrios put all his business skills and dreams into his vision for this restaurant.  His vision was to keep, The Shanty, as a gathering place for the local folk, yet add a unique touch to the food, and keep the true spirit of hospitality. Dimitrios was so successful with his vision of The Shanty, that it became an icon in the neighborhood and remained a gathering place with amazing food and superb service.  The issue with his successful vision was that little bar and restaurant were no longer big enough for all those people who wanted to meet and eat there. This was when Dimitrios’ vision became even bigger and more unique.

Dimitrios went back to his business plan with a new vision and visions of the locals’ he was ready to build the restaurant of his dreams.  This restaurant would not be any ordinary restaurant but it would be built on the grander idea of The Shanty Towne.  In 2018, Dimitrios opened the east-side bar with more restaurant seating, an outside eating area, adding on to his kitchen, opening a new kitchen, creating a new banquet and catering business, building a wine cellar, and so much more.  The addition was a huge undertaking for Dimitrios and each piece of this addition tells a story of Dimitrios’ dreams and visions from the massive bar to the wine cellar, to the bell (but all of this is another post).  During all of his success, Dimitrios knew that it all started when he was a young boy working in his family business.  His visions weren’t complete yet, he wanted to help the neighborhood children understand the business world at a young age, as he did.   And the vision of The Shanty’s Little Country Store was created.  

The Shanty’s Little Country Store from Vision to Reality

All of Dimitrios’ dreams were coming to fruition, but there was one piece of the dream that Dimitrios needed to make happen, The Shanty’s Little Country Store.  The Shanty’s Little Country Store vision was not to be just any ordinary old country store that sold local products but it would be a store where children could sell their very own handmade/homegrown product at the store.  Through The Shanty’s Little Country Store, these children would be given the same opportunity that Dimitrios did as a child, to learn the important skills needed to be a successful business person.  To operate The Shanty’s Little Country Store the child would need to learn how to write a business plan, basic accounting skills, and customer service skills.  In June of 2019, Dimitrios began construction on The Shanty’s little shed and began turning it The Shanty’s Little Country Store. When The Shanty’s Little Country Store opened, at Noon on October 13, 2019, Dimitrios’’ dream of guiding young entrepreneurs into the business world came true.  

The Shanty’s Little Country Store Opens Opportunities to Children

The Shanty’s Little Country Store is a smaller version of The Shanty including the famous Shanty bell.  The Shanty’s Little Country Store will be open on weekends year-round for children ages twelve and under to sell a product they have created.  The product can be anything from the food they have raised in their garden to crafts that the child has developed and created on their own.  Selling a product at The Shanty’s Little Country Store is not just an opportunity to make money for these children, but they also have to create a business plan, understand basic accounting skills, and have excellent customer service qualities.  

The Grand Opening on Sunday, October 13, 2019, and the Mayor, Glenn Ryback was in attendance to cut the ribbon.  The Shanty’s Little Country Store was being run, on this day, by a young lady who proved to be a true businesswoman.  She spent time posing for pictures, answering questions, and then selling her product. Her product was a three-bean salad and she made it and sold it in pint-size mason jars.  This was the perfect product for the opening of The Shanty’s Little Country Store because the recipe she used was supplied to her by Dimitrios. This recipe was the infamous three-bean salad that, The Shanty, served for many years before Dimitrios and his family bought it and they kept the salad as part of their salad service for a few years. Even though Dimitrios stopped serving the three-bean salad several years ago, people would continually ask him to bring it back.  When the locals heard of the salad being for sale at The Shanty’s Little Country Store they flocked to the tore for a jar or two (I bought two jars…I loved that three-bean salad and have missed it!).  This young lady sold all 235 jars of Three-Bean Salad in 2 hours, made some money, and learned some important skills you need to become a successful businesswoman.

The process that Dimitrios has set up for The Shanty’s Little Country Store gives the children an opportunity to make some real money.  The children keep 100% of the money made at the store. Through their business plan, the children have to determine the cost to make the product, the price they will sell it for and their profit margin.  After they sell the product they are required to save one-half of the profits to run the store again in the next year and the other half is for them to use as they see fit.  The stipulation for running the store again the following year will help assure that the children continue to learn the important skills of the business world.

The Shanty’s Little Country Store is open year-round on Saturdays and Sundays from 12:00 pm to 2 pm. 

The products for sale in the store will be created by children under the age of 12 and will focus on the seasons.  To see updates on who will be at the store you can click here and follow The Shanty Facebook Page.

If you and your child are interested in running The Shanty’s Little Country Store, hurry up and click this link and get your application in!  Dimitrios already has 30 young entrepreneurs set up for the remainder of 2019 and into 2020.

To learn more about Dimitrios and The Shanty click this link

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