Jay Guerrero spent the summer season weekending in the Sandusky area, but, unlike many others who do, he wasn’t out for rest and relaxation.
Arriving on the regular from Nashville, he was working on a new family business, primarily with the help of his son James but also with Jay’s wife, Julie. They opened
Blue Door Market – on US 250 in Perkins Township south of Bogart Road – in May.
Importantly for the Guerreros (and not coincidentally), that’s also around the time of the opening of the neighboring Sandusky RV Resort, and he considers Blue Door as a “base-camp market” for the property owned by RVC Outdoor Destinations for Memphis, Tennessee-based
RVC Outdoor Destinations.
“We (sell) fire wood, proline, ice, food – just stuff people need,” Guerrero says on a recent Friday afternoon, shortly after arriving back in Ohio from Tennessee.
“We didn’t expect (customers) to come running,” he says. “But at the same time, we’re pretty happy given basically that (business is based on) word-of-mouth right now.”
Blue Door already has scaled back hours and, Guerrero says, soon may close until spring. Next year, he hopes to be able to sell alcohol – the business is working with the state on that – and the family envisions more possible changes.
“Phase Two,” as he calls it, would see the addition of a drive-thru, designed to entice folks currently driving by the Blue Door to visit the business. Right now, many customers walk over and take golf carts from their parked RVs for bait for the resort’s stocked pond or whatever else they need. (The kids come by for candy, he says.)
“Phase Three”? Perhaps a patio with space for a food truck and live music.
“We’re basically talking to customers, and they’re telling us what they like, what they need, what they want,” he says. “We’ll expand in those directions.”
The store has partnered with local businesses to provide sub sandwiches and bakery items but, he said, selling their own prepared food is also something under strong consideration.
James Guerrero handles the store during the week, his father says.
“He’s good with people, and he enjoys talking to the customers and helping the customers,” says the elder Guerrero, who also says it's been fun to meet the RV owners, who come largely from the region, and some seasonal workers who live nearby who come from all over the world. “It’s been a good little startup.”