‘The Pioneer Woman’ Ree Drummond Worried Mercantile Renovation Process Would Upset Customers
Food Network’s The Pioneer Woman continues to show Ree Drummond cooking and baking on her Oklahoma ranch. While the show brings viewers into Drummond’s kitchen, she has quite the business outside her home. She owns the Mercantile, which includes a restaurant, a bakery, and merchandise, and the building recently underwent renovations. Here’s what Drummond said about potentially upsetting customers during renovation time.
Where is ‘The Pioneer Woman’ Mercantile located?
The Pioneer Woman Mercantile is located in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, but that’s not where Ree Drummond is from. Drummond moved to the countryside for her husband, Ladd Drummond. “I was the last person anyone ever pictured moving to the country,” she shared on her blog. While adjusting to her new surroundings, she started her personal blog in 2006 to keep readers updated on how a city girl was adjusting to country life with four kids.
According to Drummond’s blog, she and her husband purchased the old building that is now the Mercantile in 2012. They spent years renovating the space and finally opened the Mercantile in October 2016.
Drummond created the Mercantile as a general store, but she also wanted it to house a deli and bakery. In 2023, the store sells clothing, home goods, kitchenware, jewelry, and other treasures she finds. As for the restaurant, she offers comfort foods like biscuits and gravy, breakfast burritos, pancakes, and cinnamon rolls. The bakery provides pies, sticky buns, muffins, bars, and cookies — and visitors can take treats to go.
Ree Drummond talked about how the Mercantile renovations could’ve affected the customers
Ree Drummond closed the Mercantile in January 2023 for renovations. After six years of operations, the wear and tear from the constant influx of customers (many who love The Pioneer Woman) meant the building needed an update. Drummond planned on replacing the floors, renovating the restrooms, and painting.
“We haven’t kept any sort of official numbers, but we’ve had visitors from all 50 states and a number of foreign countries,” Drummond told Tulsa World. “So, the natural wear and tear on the building has been a little more than we expected.”
Unfortunately, the renovations meant some changes to the restaurant and bakery. The restaurant and bakery were temporarily transferred to the Pioneer Woman Event Center, which initially worried Drummond. Thankfully, visitors were understanding of the situation.
“We were a little worried that visitors might have a less than optimal experience, but our staff has been working twice as hard to make sure our customers are well taken care of,” she said.
Ree Drummond loves the ‘refresh’ of the renovations
The Pioneer Woman fans visiting the Mercantile were likely excited to see the building receiving a facelift. And Ree Drummond loves how it all turned out.
“It’s so nice after six and a half year of being open just to have a nice little refresh,” she told KJRH-TV. “Kind of Merc 2.0 feel.”
Drummond also said she has new baked good she’s excited for visitors to try. “The bakers and I have been tasting and testing new bakery treats for the last two weeks,” she added. “My jeans are very tight. If you eat it standing up, there are zero calories.”
As of February 2023, the restaurant in the Mercantile is still under renovation.
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