LINCOLNTON, Ga. () – With fresh food and a love for community, The Outer Ring Market has just about everything the city of Lincolnton and its neighbors can ask for.

In this episode of “Your Hometown Road Trip,” Brandon Dawson and the team visits The Outer Ring Market to speak with co-owners Mark and Britt McKinney about all they have to offer since opening in 2023.

What is the The Outer Ring Market? How did it start?

“Back in 2023, decided I wanted to do something 180 degrees different. We were moving from Spartanburg, S.C. back to Lincolnton and we as a family we said what is something that Lincolnton doesn’t have that we think Lincolnton could use? There was a spot like this in Woodruff, S.C., it’s called the Country Meat Center, Mr. Niles Brown. They run an amazing business up there and they love on people. Everybody in our family said we should do something like that in Lincolnton, so this is a complete departure from anything that she and I have ever done,” Mark said. “She’s a life-long educator and I’m an engineer by degree, but sales guy consultant. So we just said hey, let’s do something different in the community, provide a service for the community, and so we jumped into it with all four feet not knowing anything, and here we are!”

What are some of the things people can find in The Outer Ring Market?

“So we hope that everything in here is local as local can be, but my pride and joy of the store is, my momma was a well-known cook in this town, so when we moved back, we moved back so I could live in my childhood home, but we brought all her recipes back. So we have homemade chicken salad, homemade pimento cheese, homemade shrimp dip. We have frozen meals for people to pick up and it’s just a fun thing to be able to see her name on everything in here,” said Britt.

“The initial reaction is wow, I can’t believe anybody didn’t do this sooner,” Mark said. “People will drive all the way to Evans or Augusta to get meats and such, so I think it’s one of those things like it was such a no-brainer. Nobody had ever done it before. But the reaction as been tremendous. Local support like inside of Lincolnton has been tremendous. We have folks that drive specifically from Thomson, from Augusta, from Evans, from Appling, from Washington, from McCormick of course to come and get the meats here because it’s high quality. They know they can trust it.”

He added, “When people walk through the door, we want them to have an experience. Like don’t come shop and buy something, have an experience. We want people to feel loved on. If you’re having a horrible day, come in here, we want to make you smile. So when you walk out, you get really good high quality stuff, but you’ve also had an experience, an interaction.”

What’s your mission? What do you want people to know about The Outer Ring Market?

“We just want to be your go-to place, like we can go there and get what we need,” Britt said. “It’s fresh, it’s good, it’s always tasty. This is what it used to be like, it’s old school.”

The Outer Ring Market is located at 104 Main Street Lincolnton, Ga. 30817. You can find the business on Facebook to keep up with the latest they have to offer.