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Upperville Auto & Deli Has Just What The Locals Need
Upperville Auto & Deli Has Just What The Locals Need
By Michele Husfelt
Missy, the chief cook, (and really the boss) asked Billy for his order. They’d been sitting in the windowsill, shooting the breeze for a while.
“The usual,” she answered herself, and then proceeded to rattle off Billy’s usual—“fried eggs with baloney on regular bread?” Billy nodded with a smile. She headed to the tiny kitchen while Billy made his way to the rack of chips. As he opened the cooler for a Gatorade, he and Larry chatted about the heat as Larry placed a few egg cartons on the counter he’d been saving to bring by.
A small space compared to most, Upperville Auto & Deli has just what the locals need. Where else in the village can you find fresh eggs, ice, beer, sodas, gas, breakfast, lunch, an auto mechanic, and a community of “regulars” all under one tin roof?
A family affair, it’s owned and operated by Jeff Stanford. He’s the solo mechanic and his mother, Missy, runs the kitchen. While Jeff has owned the store and Citgo gas station close to 25 years, some of the regulars have been coming for 50 or 60 years, they fondly recall.
Jimmy, the Ivy Hill Cemetery caretaker across the road, remembers coming here as a kid with his dad, who was the town postmaster. He still stops by almost every morning. Over July 4th weekend, when the store closed for three days, Jimmy teased that he wasn’t sure how he was going to survive.
“It’s the atmosphere,” said Joe, when asked why he frequents the place. About that time, in walked Jerry and they shook hands and caught up since Jerry had been out of town a few weeks.
“We don’t open until 6:30 in the morning, but the regulars come in the back door starting around 6 o’clock,” Missy said. “They talk with each other and carry on while I fix their breakfast sandwiches.” It’s just plain ol’ cookin’. There’s nothing fancy about it. I make more deviled eggs than I care to.”
“And the BLTs are popular,” grandson Jackson added.
Missy mentioned one woman who comes in to buy potato salad and deviled eggs. She told her one day that the real name should be “evil eggs,” and now Betsy comes in asking for “evil eggs.”
In the early days of owning the store, Missy drove a school bus for Loudoun County. She recalled getting off the bus in the morning and coming to the store to cook, and in the afternoon returning to don her bus driver hat. Occasionally, when the auto repairs are caught up, Jeff comes in to run the register or fry up eggs. Reluctantly, Missy admitted, Jeff’s eggs are better than hers.
The store also is the place in town where people drop off various items for others to pick up. Recent items included medicine for the animals and bank checks.
“She’s the personal secretary for the town,” said Jackson, who was running the register while coaxing his grandmother to tell more stories.
If you’re driving through Upperville and want to know where all the locals are, especially at breakfast and lunchtime, stop by the gas station.
“It’s like Cheers,” Bryan said. “Where everybody knows your name.”
