Best of the Tri-State 2022

Story and photos

By HEATH HARRISON The Ironton Tribune

John and Lisa Suitor have owned the Coal Grove Giovanni’s location since 1992 and for 18 of those 30 years they have been voted as Best Pizza Place by readers of the Ironton Tribune.

John said the prime factor in their popularity is “the quality of the product” they are pro vided by the parent company, which was founded in 1964 with a location in Wheelersburg by the Jim LeMaster, a Catlettsburg, Kentucky native. The company, based in Ashland, has gone on to have more than 100 locations is six states.

“It is due to what Giovanni’s wholesale provides us to work with,” he said. “It all starts with them.”

John has been with the com pany nearly six decades, start ing at the Portsmouth location in 1974.

He said he owes his success to the LeMaster family and all they taught him about the busi ness.

“They gave me a great oppor tunity,” he said of owning the Coal Grove franchise.

He said his restaurant, which is number two in

volume for the chain, has 32 employ ees and, of those, 20 of them have been with him for more than 20 years.

“One of the keys to our success is to surround ourselves with good, quali ty people,” he said.

Coal Grove Giovanni’s is always busy, with a good amount of custom ers enjoying its dining room. They also offer pick-up and delivery.

The location has also endeared it self to many in the area for their contribution to community projects,

regularly making donations. The location can regularly be found as a backer of events in the area.

John said he finds it to be a more effective and positive way to spend his advertising budget, giving back, rather than simply putting it toward ads.

“So we choose to do donation schools, churches groups, the Lions Club,” he said. “I’ve always preferred doing it that way.”

With his location being popular for so long with the community and Tribune readers, he said he is appre ciative.

just want to thank the commu nity for all their support these last 30

Coal Grove Giovanni’s

631 High St.

Shop has long history in Ironton

By HEATH HARRISON The Ironton Tribune

Voted this year as Best Gift Shop by read ers of The Ironton Tribune, Granny’s is a longtime business in Ironton, with nearly eight decades at various locations and incarna tions

Selling rock and roll merchandise, stick ers, posters, candles, body jewelry, tie dye and boutique clothing, metaphysical supplies, books and more, with more than 100,000 items in stock, the store has its roots in the Great Depression under the same family that cur rently runs it.

Granny’s is a mom and pop business that started in 1946. It was established by Thelma and Wilford Goodrich as the Ironton Wine Store on Third Street and Park Avenue, locat ed where behind where the Toro Loco Mexican restaurant is now in the old Crawford building.

After a year or so, the Goodriches bough

a corner store on Fifth and Vine streets, where they moved their busi ness and changed the name to B&G Grocery. After a few more years the Goodriches bought out the Bishops share of that business and changed the name again to Goodrich Grocery and Carryout, a neigh borhood cornerstore.

Due to health reasons Thelma’s son, Mike, bought Hank’s Market across the street and reinvented the busi ness, changing the name to Granny’s, because everyone always called Thelma “Granny.”

To this day, Mike and his family own and operate the business.

In addition to their walk-in customers, the shop also has a strong online presence, on both Facebook and Instagram.

Bethany Young, with the family, said they do Facebook live sales every Thursday at 9:15 p.m., shipping mer chandise for $3 to out of state buyers.

The store also has

three community events each year, with one set for this month, when they will host a Spooktacular over the weekend before Halloween, allowing local vendors to set up, along with a food truck and a raffle for those who attend in costume.

The shop has been a previous winner in The Tribune’s voting and the family said they are thankful for the sup port.

“It means a lot to us that our customers appreciate us,” Young said. “We are super appreciative.”

“We put so much energy into this place and we appreciate the recognition,” Chad Goodrich said.

Granny’s is located at 2443 N. Fifth Street and is open from

9 a.m.-8 p.m., Monday through Friday and from 10 a.m.-8 p.m. on weekends. They are open year-round, except Thanksgiving and Christmas.

“We’re here, 363 days a year,” Young said.

Granny’s Novelties is a family-owned and operated business. From left, Ricky Young, Bethany Young, Maria Goodrich, Mike Goodrich and Chad Goodrich. The sore was voted as Best Gift Shop by readers of The Ironton Tribune. (The Ironton Tribune | Heath Harrison)

Making their mark

By MARK SHAFFER The Ironton Tribune

After being a police officer and an EMT, Rick Smith decided he wanted to work for himself and follow his artistic inclinations and opened up Bad Buddha Tattoo in Westwood, Kentucky in 2009.

Smith, sitting in his workspace covered in pho tos of Frankenstein and family, said the support of the community and his family has been “nuts.”

“That is the part I appreciate the most, the com munity has always been behind us,” he said. “We have always strived to give the best we can give to people. Our goal is to have the cleanest place, the nicest place and to take care of our customers’ needs beyond everything. Their support has meant the world to us.”

That support is what led to Bad Buddha Tattoo topping The Tribune’s Best of Tattoo Shops. The winner was determined by votes from the public, many of whom come back again and again and bring their relatives.

“I’ve literally tattooed generations of families,” Smith said. “Tattoos aren’t for everyone, but there are a lot of people who enjoy fine art and this is the highest form of fine art. If we mess up, we can’t just paint over it and do it again. We get one shot to do it right.”

Besides Smith, there are two other tattoo art ists, Derick Payne and AJ Tackett. Shi Clark does piercings.

Smith said the tattoos that customers are looking for vary as widely as the person.

“People look for all different types of tattoos. I don’t know if there is one thing that is most pop ular right now. With social media, you can search up something and there are a million ideas out there.” Smith said. “You can bring in six or eight pictures and your tattoo artist can build something that is your very own. So, really, right now, I don’t see any big trends right now.”

Smith’s favorite type of tattoo to create is realis tic looking animals.

“If a person has a pet they have lost or have a favorite animal like a lion or a bear, I love to do those,” he said. “I absolutely love nature and I like drawing animals and their textures. If somebody loves an animal so much they want to look at it every day, I want to give them that.”

There are some tattoos that Smith won’t do: Anything hate-related or racist or anything that makes life hard for the tattoo’s owner.

“I won’t do a job-stopping tattoo on a 15-year-old kid,” he said. “I’m not going to put an upside down cross or their forehead. You don’t know any better. I’ve told parents in front of their kids that ‘No, I will not tattoo your kid.’ Now, if they want to go somewhere else and have it done, that is on them. They can live in the basement and their parents can take care of them for the rest of their lives. But we don’t do that here.”

One thing that Smith wants is for people who do come into Bad Buddha Tattoo to be comfortable.

“When people come into our shop, they are not greeted with attitude and none of us think we are above anyone,” he said. “We are artists and we are here to provide a service. There are tattoo artists around that put themselves on a very high pedes tal, which is a shame because they are missing out on what is going on down here with the rest of us common folk. And there are a lot of great people who are looking for a great tattoo. And when they

get met with an attitude at a place, they are more than happy to come here and tell us about it. So these artists are missing out on meeting a lot of great people.”

The crew of Bad Buddha Tattoo from left, AJ Tackett, owner Rick Smith, Shi Clark and Derick Payne. (The Ironton Tribune | Mark Shaffer)