Why Doesn’t Lawton Have A Butcher Shop?

I moved to Lawton in late 2006, and I've always wondered why there aren't any butcher shops in town. I mean, we're surrounded by agriculture in Southwest Oklahoma, tons of cattle producers, and while there are places you can travel to and find your next half of beef, why isn't there a butcher in Lawton?

If you search for a Lawton butcher on the google, it'll pin a ton of places for you, but it's mostly restaurants and grocery stores. Spreading that search out wider, you'll find butcher shops in Elgin, Sterling, Marlow, Duncan, Temple, and Altus just in the hour-ish travel time. Apparently, there's enough demand to prop up so many shops in these surrounding small towns, why isn't there one in Lawton?

For years, everyone talked about how good the meat was at Taft Grocery. I missed the train on that one. Did they have a butcher working in the back slicing up the good stuff? Or were they just packaging shipped-in meats to sell off to their incredibly loyal consumer base? If I'm lying, I don't know any better, but the only place I know you can score prime graded steak in Lawton is Sam's Club... is that correct? Don't get me wrong, I'm not opposed to buying steak at the grocery store, I usually pick up a few custom cuts of ribeye every time I'm near the Hollis, OK United... but when you know the guy cutting it all up, that's a little easier to come by.

Once or twice a year, the meat truck comes to town with their wares and sells discount cuts to thousands of people. We usually broadcast and advertise for them, so I know they stay incredibly busy even when the location is kind of out of the way. Maybe Lawton doesn't have a butcher shop because it's not a prime steak kind of place. Not that we don't all enjoy that delicious marbled goodness, but it may be more of a price thing.

I have more than one friend that would rather fill up on two cheap steaks rather than enjoy one really good cut of beef. Could it be Lawton doesn't have a butcher shop because the average income wouldn't support such a thing? Comparing the average income to all the small towns that have butcher shops, we're definitely on the low end of that list.

I'm not sure if it'd be a successful venture, but if you were looking to become a butcher and lived here in Lawton, I'd be behind you 100% to see if this town could support something like that.