FL Specialty Market Braces For Storm Season While Recovering From Hurricane Milton

BRADENTON, FL — For more than 50 years, the Chop Shop, a specialty butcher shop, deli and market in Bradenton, has withstood the onslaught of tropical storms and near-misses of hurricanes.

It wasn’t until 2022, when Hurricane Ian hit Florida, that the business, founded by her family in 1971, saw any real storm damage. The building lost its sign out front, as well as the roof of the smokehouse. And because they didn’t have a generator, they had to toss much of their inventory.

“But nothing really super significant at that time,” Susan Higbee, who owns the Chop Shop with her mother, told Patch. “But it was the first time in 50 years we really had anything like that.”

Now, the business has rebuilt and is thriving after back-to-back hits by Hurricanes Helene and Milton in the fall thanks to an American Express Small Business Hurricane Recovery Program grant.

While they briefly lost power during Helene, it was Milton that caused the real damage.

“Most of the roof was in the front parking lot — it’s a flat roof — and the AC units were hanging off,” Higbee said. “It took a while to get anybody out (to work on the building) because everybody was hurting.”

They also didn’t have power for at least a week.

Though they couldn’t operate out of the building, Higbee and her staff pivoted operations to a pick-up service from the shop’s parking lot.

“We worked with a skeleton crew standing at the door and people would say, ‘Hey, I’ll have a t-bone and a pound of ham,’” she said. “It allowed us to at least still serve the community and get our employees paid something. We were able to run a little bit of business so we could survive that time.”

The Chop Shop was fully closed for 10 days and operated in this limited capacity for about 30.

Higbee is grateful for the community that shopped with them during this period.

“They kept us going. We wouldn’t be here if they didn’t come when we had door service,” she said. “They stood outside in line and sometimes it was hot.”

The timing for their full reopening — right around Thanksgiving — was ideal, as they had an order of turkeys scheduled for delivery.

“We order the turkeys in March or May, I think,” Higbee said. “People would ask what we were going to do and I’d say, ‘Whether we were open or not, those turkeys are coming. We’re going to be in the front parking lot selling them, hocking turkeys, that’s what we’re going to do.’”

While the business received some money from insurance, it wasn’t enough to cover all of the work that needed to be done on the building.

“That’s how the (American Express) grant helped out, because insurance only covered half of the sign out front,” she said. “There was still so much that needed to be done.”

As the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season approaches, finishing touches are being made to prepare the Chop Shop for it.

Their property just got approved for TECO natural gas and Higbee will purchase a generator. She plans to hook up the generator to new coolers, which they’ll fill with all inventory whenever a storm is forecast for the region.

“It seems like it’s been getting worse over the years,” she said. “I still have PTSD. It’s very nervewracking.”

Higbee stresses how thankful she is for the greater community and their support over more than five decades.

“My favorite part is that we have generations that have been shopping here,” she said. “I worked here as a kid and as I grew older. People remember when I was pregnant - my daughter is 23 now - and I remember when customers had their kids and now their kids are shopping here. We’re so rooted in the community. It’s nice to see the generations come through.”