Opening Primos meat market in Hernando was something of a professional homecoming for Frankie Perry, who has more than 20 years of experience in the grocery business. 

In July, Perry along with his wife and co-owner, Kaye Perry, opened Primos in downtown Hernando at 3015 U.S. 51 S., less than 10 years after Perry left his career with the now-closed Pretti Bros. grocery in southwest Memphis.

“I just felt like I needed to go back to what I knew best and what I was comfortable in doing,” said Perry, who most recently worked for the Canadian National Railroad. “My wife and I had made the comment that we want a good steak again. We want good ground chuck again, and if the opportunity ever were to present itself, I was going to do it again.”

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Perry enlisted the expertise of butcher and longtime friend and colleague Mike Palazola, whose uncles, Henry and Recie Pretti, operated the pair’s old grocery-store stomping grounds. Also working behind Primos’ counter is Rodger Jones who has a history with Pretti Bros., too. 

“They’re my most trusted friends,” Perry said of Palazola and Jones.

“I cut meat for 55 years. Now I’m back to cutting meat again,” Palazola said while wrapping boudin-stuffed chicken breasts with bacon. 

High-quality meat was hard to find in Hernando, said Perry, speaking to the motivation behind Primos. “I felt like we were more than less governed by monopolies, Kroger and Walmart, and their meat’s terrible,” he said. “We want to differentiate ourselves from the big-box stores, Kroger, Walmart, Piggly Wiggly.”

Primos sources its meat, the 1855-brand Black Angus beef, through the Ben E. Keith Co. Several cuts are offered, including ground chuck — by the pound and in hamburger patty form — tri-tip and porterhouse, among others. 

“No hormones, no added steroids, no antibiotics, all that good stuff. It’s actually really good beef,” Perry said. 

Bone-in ribeye and filet mignon are king in sales at Primos, Perry said, but pork chops are another top seller.

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Neatly stacked in a deli case, hard and soft cheeses and cured meats, ranging from pastrami to Genoa salami, are available cut to order. There’s plenty of variety in the frozen section, too, with pineapple sausage, frog legs and wild game meat. 

In addition to fresh pork sausage, Primos offers a handmade Italian sausage using a recipe passed down in the Palazola family for generations. 

“We take fresh garlic, puree it, mix it with wine and salt and pepper and season the Italian sausage with it and then put it in the gut by hand using that machine there,” Palazola said, pointing to an enameled cast-iron sausage machine that’s been in the family for 100 years.

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The team is experimenting with dry aging New York strip steak and ribeye, a process by which moisture is pulled out of the meat by exposing it to a temperature-controlled environment. “Therefore if you put a steak in there that was very tender at the prime level, it will be twice as tender when you pull it out,” Perry explained. “And it makes the price substantially higher.” 

Perry wants Primos to be a one-stop shop for customers to assemble a whole meal. To that end, the store sells a variety of culinary accouterments: name-brand seasonings, sauces and breads, plus frozen, bake-at-home sides, like sweet potato casserole and green bean hash brown casserole. 

“We plan to offer more products when seasons change, such as soups,” Perry said of fall and winter offerings. “We’ll definitely change the menu up to kind of go with the times and the seasons.”