While the Beech Springs Market, located on Old Boonesboro Road, has been in operation for more than 12 years, the building it operates out of has generations of history with the family that owns it.

Mary Beth Hendricks, the store’s owner, said the building was originally built by her grandfather when he constructed the farm it sits on before the new Boonesboro Road had been constructed.

“It was always a general store,” Hendricks said. “It sold gas and cigarettes, things like that.”

When the new road was built, it cut the family farm in half.

Hendricks said her grandfather would rent the store out to various people who would operate it for him. After the last people to rent the store left, Hendricks and her husband decided to take over operation of the store themselves, running it on a seasonal basis from spring until the end of fall.

“The goal was to enjoy it and go to Florida in the winter,” Hendricks said. “I can only go to Florida for a week or two, but maybe someday I can stay longer.”

The Hendricks family planted several peach and apple trees in the field behind the market, providing some of the ingredients needed for the market’s famous baked apple and peach pies.

Hendricks also supplies some of the produce sold at the market from her farm. The vegetables she doesn’t supply come from either Clark County farmers or from other growers in Kentucky.

She also carries several Kentucky Proud products.

But Beech Springs Market’s most popular item by far is Hendricks’ homemade chicken salad, she said.

The store serves individual sandwiches on Amish bread, in addition to offering box lunch services for business meetings. The store also offers pimento cheese sandwiches.

Beech Springs also carries Ale-8-One, beer cheese, flowers and a wide assortment of items based on customer demand.

“I carry sarsaparilla now because of a request from someone,” Hendricks said. “I may not sell a bottle of sarsaparilla for two weeks and then someone will come in and buy up every bottle I have in the store.”

Beech Springs Market is open 10  a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays. The store is also open on Holidays like Labor Day and July 4.

“Those are actually some of our best days, as people come to get vegetables for their cookouts and get togethers,” Hendricks said.

Hendricks said she is assisted in running the store by a group of part-time employees and her sons.