At the corner of Souvenir Gate and St. Patrick Street in Lafayette, Louisiana, sits one of the oldest neighborhood stores around. 

“It started out as Bee’s Grocery in 1947. As a matter of fact, it sits on the first lot in this neighborhood. All of the houses here were built around this store,” said owner Charlie Shank.

Shank bought the store in 2024. “I always wanted a little convenience store,” he said. “I changed it a lot. I spruced it up. But I wanted to keep the character of it.”

One thing Shank didn’t change was the store’s menu options. “Why would I change it? When people buy stores or restaurants and change things, they lose loyal customers,” he said. The previous owner offered the same menu for 27 years. 

The store sells about 1,000 chili dogs a month—a success Shank attributes to the chili recipe that came with the store. It’s such a staple that Shank’s 93-year-old mother comes in each Tuesday for a chili dog. 

Some menu items have benefitted from a change in ingredients or preparation techniques. “I source our meat straight from a local slaughter house, so it’s fresh ground. I started using NuNu’s Cajun Seasoning and that brought the flavor to a new level—it sets it apart,” Shank said. 

The burgers are a great example. Served only on Thursdays, the patties are made with fresh-ground beef and topped with a yeast bun from a bakery down the road. “It’s a true homemade burger. Every ingredient is carefully chosen,” Shank said. 

The store often sells out of its plate lunches, especially its meatball stew, which is served on Mondays. While the store serves lunch until 1:30 p.m., the meatball stew is typically gone by 12:15 p.m.

Shank’s wife Kathryn does the cooking. “She stirs the pot just right. Customers say it’s just like their grandmother’s,” he said. She starts by making a dark roux, then she adds the meatballs as well some ground beef to the gravy. 

On Tuesdays, the store offers smothered pork chops, smothered sausage or meatloaf plate lunches. “We sell out of the pork chops first,” Shank said. The pork chops are cooked until the meat is just about ready to fall off the bone, but “hasn’t fallen off quite yet.” The chops are served over rice with one or two sides, with options like black eyed peas, veggies, green beans, potato salad or green salad. 

The plate lunches cost $10.49 with one side and $10.99 for two sides. “You can’t beat my prices. I could charge more and give more stuff, but people can’t afford it,” Shank said.

A unique menu item from the previous owner is shrimp and egg stew. It’s shrimp in a brown gravy with hard-boiled eggs added. People want those eggs, Shank noted. “Customers say, ‘Be sure to put my egg in it.’ Sometimes people order an extra hard-boiled egg,” he said.  

‘We’re Part of All This’

When you pull up to the Charlie’s Saint Street Grocery & Deli, you’ll see people walking in from the neighborhood with their dogs and customers pulling up on bikes.

“There’s something about the store. That’s why I wanted to buy it. People come in and sit, talk and drink coffee. We’re part of all this. They gather here,” owner Charlie Shank said.

“Everybody who works here lives in the neighborhood,” he said. “Everyone knows Mona. She works here and lives a block away. She worked in the store before I bought it.”

“The store doesn’t belong to me, it belongs to this community. It’s not about us—it’s about the neighborhood.”