If you’re over 40 or so, you may remember visiting the neighborhood butcher shop that was owned by the same guy who cut your steaks, or picking out fresh-baked pastries from the small bakery down the street. Des Moines residents can now find both along Indianola Avenue on the South Side.

Dennis and Darlene Findlay opened Findlay’s Old Time Butcher Shop & Deli a month ago at 1951 Indianola Ave. A couple of blocks to the south at 2128 Indianola, a group of seven partners, including former Embassy Club executive chef Tom Mauer, launched Florene’s Baked Goods in the building that housed Mary Ann’s Pastry & Foods for 30 years.

At the same time, a Des Moines couple is in the process of buying the former Scavo’s Grocery Store building, most recently used as a dance studio, just south of the new bakery. Kraig and Julie Rosendahl plan to renovate the 3,000-square-foot structure, originally built in 1948, into two spaces suitable to lease or sell to small retail businesses.

The couple has renovated some residential properties they’ve bought in the Drake neighborhood; this will be their first commercial project. Julie Rosendahl said they’re hopeful the spaces will attract the attention of some entrepreneurs who may want to start a coffeehouse, catering business, organic grocery or similar ventures that will benefit the neighborhood.

Indianola Avenue “is a highly traveled street; it’s affordable,” she said. “We bought (the building) at a good price and we want to sell it at a reasonable price. It just seems like people are trying to upgrade that area.”

Down the street, Darlene Findlay said she and her husband have been pleasantly surprised by the strong response they’ve gotten after being open just a few weeks.

“A lot of people like buying from small businesses that are getting started, particularly on the South Side,” she said. “They love to see small businesses come in and they provide a lot of support. And a lot of people like being able to swing by and just get a steak or pick up one or two things rather than having to go into a grocery store.”

The Findlays had owned a grocery store and meat market in Blakesburg and opened another store in Ottumwa before Dennis went back to work for Hy-Vee Inc., where he began his career. After moving to the South Side three years ago when he took a job with Costco’s meat department in West Des Moines, the Findlays decided the time was right to again start their own business.

“We sat down and talked about it and realized there aren’t that many butchers anymore, because everything is pre-cut,” Darlene Findlay said. “We just started doing the math and we realized we aren’t the only ones who miss having a butcher shop.”

The couple has leased the vacant space next door to use for future expansion, with plans to acquire the equipment needed to make their own smoked meats. “Eventually we want to use the other side for the fresh and smoked meats, and keep the side we’re currently on for the deli,” she said.

At Florene’s, which opened in January after about six months of renovation, “we were lucky to come upon (the building) at a time we thought it could do a lot of good,” said Mauer. The front of the building has been completely refurbished, and the interior was remodeled to include a dining area.

A Chicago native, Mauer came to Des Moines 12 years ago to work for the Embassy Club after having worked as an executive chef for hotel chains throughout the country. Prior to the bakery, he launched a business specializing in cost-control software for the food and beverage industry. One of the other partners in the limited liability company is Rich Logsden, formerly the baker at Younkers Tea Room.

“We have one partner who is in the food service industry, another who is in restaurant equipment and another in the insurance business,” Mauer said. “This all sounds brilliant, but it was really serendipitous.” Knowing that the No. 1 reason most food service operations go out of business is too much debt, the operation has paid cash since its inception, he said.

Among the bakery’s most popular items are its cinnamon rolls, German chocolate muffins and chocolate-turtle muffins. The display cases are also filled with éclairs, pastries and cream puffs of every description. The shop also handles special orders such as pies and wedding cakes, and sells a large number of pies on the weekends.

One of its hottest specialty items is pita cun sarde, an item Mauer added after customers repeatedly asked for it. The dough for the spicy Italian bread with anchovies is marinated for weeks in olive oil and spices before being baked in a 6-inch pie tin. “We had no idea what it was,” said Mauer, who finally got a recipe for it from Frances Graziano at Graziano Bros.

Graziano, a third-generation owner in her business, said she’s thrilled to see owner-proprietors taking a chance on the South Side.

“I think it’s absolutely wonderful that the livelihood of the South Side is returning, and that the community is supporting those businesses,” she said.