When this NC butcher sold his iconic market in 2020, the new owner told almost no one

Cliff’s Meat Market has been well regarded as the local butcher serving southern Orange County since 1973, but many may not realize that founder Cliff Collins doesn’t run the shop anymore.

That may be because Collins never really left, and the new owner isn’t outspoken about it.

Last week, Collins sat in a tall chair by the counter, munching on a strawberry ice cream bar and holding court with folks who popped into the Carrboro store for a cold drink or to shop for dinner.

Behind the counter, the new owner, Gerardo Martinez Galvan, 46, packaged orders while overseeing several young workers. Martinez — “Tolo” to friends and customers — is almost as much a fixture at Cliff’s as Collins, having been by his right hand for over 25 years.

On Jan. 1, Martinez filed paperwork with the N.C. Secretary of State to make the business at 100 W. Main St. officially his own; it was initially registered under his daughter’s name because his English was limited, he said.

The deal actually went through in March 2020, just as COVID shut down many businesses and sent UNC students and employees home. Their wholesale business was decimated, from 50 restaurants before the pandemic to only 10 now, Collins said.

Martinez started online and phone orders with curbside pickup, and added a package deal with different cuts of meat, which grew so popular that it’s still on the menu, he said last week between customers.

Building a business, relationships

Restaurants continue to struggle, especially with the high price of meat, Martinez said. And the wholesale market has consolidated, with a few companies buying out their competitors and seizing the advantage to undercut prices for local markets, Collins added.

The shop’s meats, snacks, soup bones and cold drinks are now complemented by a wide selection of Latino spices and dry goods in an effort to better serve their local customers. He helps where he can, Collins said, and keeps the refrigerators running right.

Collins’s crusty demeanor cracked a little, showing his affection for the younger man. “He worked here 25 years. I never caught him stealing, and he got along with all the people,” Collins said, when asked why he sold the business to Martinez.

“One day, I left here, and I went and got some chickens. When I came back, Tolo was on the other side of the counter over there, dancing with an 84-year-old woman to Mexican music. I knew right then and there, he needs the store,” Collins said.

Martinez credited Collins with teaching him everything he knows, from how to speak better English to how to run a business and butcher different meats. He grinned as Collins corrected his English while the staff broke for lunch with tacos in the back.

He may own the store now, Martinez said, but “I always say Cliff is my boss.”

From a Mexican farm to local business owner

Martinez was born in Guanajuato, in the mountains of central Mexico, where his family were tenant farmers. His mother sold gorditas — corn cakes stuffed with cheese, meat or beans — from a cart to earn extra money. He didn’t want to go to the United States, but at 17, he realized it offered a way to help his parents.

He started working at Carolina Car Wash in 1995, and his brother, who worked across the street at Crook’s Corner, helped him get in the door at Cliff’s Meat Market, cleaning fish on Thursdays. When another employee stopped showing up, Martinez took his place.

Martinez became one of his best employees, Collins said.

“He was quiet, and he was nice,” Collins said. “After I got to know him and I talked to his family ... I said, hey, why don’t you come work with me, and he looked at me and said, I’ll work with you two years. I said, OK, I’ll take you for two years. He worked with me for 25.”

The money he saved was enough to build a home for his family in Mexico — the first one there to have indoor plumbing, Martinez said proudly. He got married and built his own house in Carrboro, and now rents out the house in Mexico, along with two more in Orange County, in part to support his mother, who came to live with his brother when their father died, he said.

He didn’t have any dreams growing up but loves business, Martinez said. At the shop, he works with his wife, Flor Cervantes-Martinez, and their youngest daughter, a Carrboro High School student. Their other daughter is a social worker, and their son is a nurse, he said.

It’s been 26 years, and “I still love my wife,” Martinez said, smiling. “She’s a good wife.”

They plan to buy more rental property and could expand with a second shop one day, he said. Collins once told him the key to being a good butcher is to be “never mad with yourself or somebody else, never mad with customers,” Martinez said. “You’re always happy.”

“And try to make them think they’re always right,” Collins opined from his seat by the counter.