Freshly stocked shelves, hand-dipped ice cream and wide variety of products can now be found inside The North Grove Carryout, located on North Grove between Clay Street and Conneaut Avenue.

Two cousins, Holly Wulff-Cordes and Deena Halleck, bought the carryout in March 2006 that has been there for at least 50 years, according to Halleck.

“Some of our customers used to come here when they were kids,” Halleck said.

Charlotte Kipp, aunt of the owners, has her share of history with the store.

“I was here when I was little. I would visit my aunt and I used to walk down here,” Kipp said.

The owners have provided a book for customer suggestions which they look over when making orders.

They have stocked the shelves with not only the basics, but also a variety of wine, beer and liquor. They also have household cleaning supplies, pet foods, over-the-counter medications and paper products. A large variety of foods including baking goods and dairy products have also been added.

“Our priority is to get into the store what the customer will buy,” Wulff-Cordes said.

She said they are working on catering to customers demands by first finding out what they want available in the store.

The two owners are planning to add an island with fountain drinks, hot dogs and pizza. They also intend to add soft serve ice cream in addition to the hand-dipped ice cream that is already sold there.

The owners hope to bring more customers into the store by providing the right merchandise and more consistent and flexible hours than before, for both students and residents.

“Right now, we have more locals. We get our fair share of students, but we’d like to see more,” Halleck said.

Bowling Green resident Autumn Newnham has lived around the corner from the carryout for less than a year and said she comes to the store somewhat often.

“I love this place. It’s adorable – it reminds me of the Waltons,” Newnham said.

The store’s location in the neighborhood has given the owners the opportunity to bring in a family friendly atmosphere.

“We’d like to keep that hometown feel,” Halleck said. “I love seeing the same faces and getting to know people.”

Wulff-Cordes also said she hoped that being near the city park will bring in more families and kids during the day.

“The city park is right here so we hope the kids will come in and get lunch or ice cream before they go [to the park],” Wulff-Cordes added.

They have thought about the idea of putting picnic tables outside, which would have to be approved by the city, Halleck said.

The two have been stay-at-home moms the last several years and bought the store as a way to become involved in the community.

“If we did anything, we wanted it to be child friendly. We wanted to get back into the community without interfering with our families,” Halleck said. The two owners have seven children between them.

Their families are very supportive and excited about their new business venture.

“It’s exciting, and I like to see them out and being a part of the community,” Kipp said.

Their husbands, who they say are their biggest supporters, are also business owners in Bowling Green. Andy Halleck, owner of BG South Side Motors, and Nate Cordes, co-owner of Nate and Wally’s, say it’s “the girls’ business,” Halleck said, but they are all part of the business in some way.

The four graduated from Bowling Green High School and now they all own businesses in the city.

“We’re from here, we graduated from here and we’re proud to own businesses in BG,” Halleck said.

The owners want to assure the customers can see and feel the friendly environment through themselves and the employees.

“Smiling faces – it’s required to smile and say have a nice day. You won’t find that in every store,” Halleck said.