Old fashioned butcher shops are a rare find these days, but they do exist. Blue Max Meats in the Summit area of Puyallup is hand-cutting meats, smoking its own sausage and making delicious jerky and pepperoni, all with top-notch personalized customer service.

Formerly Blue Max Sausage Co., owners Evan Greco and Tommy Marshall bought the business in April, renaming it Blue Max Meats, a more accurate representation of their full offering of products. They now offer grass-fed beef, as well as hard to find alligator, frog legs and bison, with plans to add more game and exotic meats in the near future. Greco and Marshall have kept the recipes the same for the jerky and 20 types of sausage, but will be adding more selection.

For Greco, who had previously worked at Blue Max Sausage Co. for two years, it was a dream come true. "As a meat cutter, I believe the ultimate dream is to own and operate your own butcher shop. We were given a once in a lifetime opportunity to make that dream happen and we jumped right on it," he said. "We hope to build a strong local regular customer base as well as become a destination for a large variety of fresh, quality meats."

BLUE MAX MEATS, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, 9512 Canyon Road E., Summit, 253.535.6110