Jason McKay jokes with friends that Chichester is the greatest place on Earth, but laughs aside, he loves his hometown. In August, McKay took over the Healthy Buffalo, a longstanding local meat shop, and he now intends to open a market next spring. McKay also plans to move the Healthy Buffalo, which has been a staple business in town for over 30 years, to the new market location on Dover Road by Speedway.

“Right now, Route 4 in Chichester is kind of dominated by camping stores and car dealerships and a couple other things here and there, but I want to bring something that will benefit people directly in the town and surrounding towns, as far as getting good quality healthy foods,” McKay said. “It’s something everyone in town would be able to go to and find something that they want or not have to drive to Concord for the grocery store.”

The market, designed to look like a barn, will aim to source goods from businesses in the area. There will be custom-cut meat such as fresh steak, deli options, prepared foods, grab-and-go meals, frozen food options, and hot meals of the day.

“There’ll be a couple indoor tables for people to sit at if they wanted to eat there, and then seasonally, we’re designing it so there’ll be a fun porch, almost like a farmer’s porch facing Route 4, and people could sit out there and just be outside and enjoy the food, enjoy the view,” McKay said.

Even since taking over the Healthy Buffalo, McKay has worked to expand the offerings and inject more local flavor into the goods he sells.

“It’s been a lot of interacting with all sorts of different people, from new customers to farmers and people who make pickles and all those other kinds of side things that complement meat that people buy,” he said.

He views the exotic meat store and future market as a form of putting down roots and getting more involved in the town.

“We have an Old Home Day event every year in Chichester, and I’d like to donate the pig,” McKay said. “They had an issue last year where no one was able to donate a pig. Hopefully this year, we can help out with that.”

Chair of the planning board Tom Jameson, said he’s excited to see what the market adds to the town.

“I think anytime we can do things in our community and not have to drive to Concord or drive to other areas is going to be a great thing for us,” he said.

The market’s location will be a huge plus, Jameson added.

“Anyone heading east is going through Chichester, so I also think it’ll be great on the weekends for him,” he said. “We want to stay rural as much as possible, so our focus is putting a lot of business on Route 4, Route 28, so it’s the perfect location for something like this. We also want the ability to not have to travel as far, so having amenities in our small town is one thing that we’d like to see.”

McKay and his team await approval from the state’s Department of Environmental Services to begin construction. He hopes to start site work later this spring and have construction take place over the rest of the year. Until the official green light comes through, he’ll continue selling exotic meat at the Healthy Buffalo and dreaming up ways his business can help contribute to Chichester.

“It’s a small enough town where you can really know a lot of people in town and know their families and grow up with friends who all stay local,” McKay said. “It’s just a great community. Most of the people that live around me are more like family than friends.”

Rachel Wachman can be reached at rwachman@cmonitor.com