A renowned St. Louis restaurateur has officially become a neighborhood grocer.
Matt McGuire, owner of Louie (706 DeMun) and Wright’s Tavern (7624 Wydown) in Clayton, just opened Box Hill Grocer (7628 Wydown) next door to the latter. The focus is on prepared hot and cold items designed for grab-and-go.
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“It won’t be ‘a full-stop pickup shop,’” McGuire previously told SLM, “but people can expect some special items and some of our restaurant staples.”
Beginning December 27, the hours of operation are 9 a.m.–7 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Here’s what to know before you go.
The Concept
The idea for Box Hill Grocer emerged from ongoing conversations with a retired dentist who had long operated his practice in the storefront next to Wright’s Tavern. “He also happens to own the building and lives upstairs,” McGuire explains. During these discussions, one proposal stood out: a market focused on prepared foods—a concept McGuire felt the neighborhood truly needed. The market would cater to nearby apartment and condo residents, as well as empty nesters.
“There are days when I’ve been tired and don’t feel like schlepping to the grocery store and then cooking,” McGuire says. “On those days, it’s so nice to have a place to stop, pick something up, and be back home in 10 minutes.”
McGuire, who operates two restaurants under the Box Hill Group name and owns Box Hill Farm near Hermann, sees the market as an extension of his vision to bring a sense of rural charm to Clayton. “The market is part of an ode to bring bucolic experiences to the city,” he explains, noting inspiration from places like Loaves & Fishes, a beloved gourmet food store in The Hamptons.
Ultimately, McGuire says the goal of Box Hill Grocer is simple: “To feed people in a different way, on a different day, than in the restaurants. If you don’t want to cook dinner, I want to be there for you.”
The Atmosphere
A model sailboat and wooden oars in one front window conjure memories of summer vacation or maybe summer camp, piquing the interest of passersby. In the opposite window, a counter with throwback wooden swivel stools beckons. But the experience officially begins with the tinkle of a small-town, old-school shop bell hanging on the door.
Inside the 1,200-square-foot shotgun storefront, visitors are greeted by a sweeping U-shaped cherry wood counter, crafted by renowned local woodworker Dave Stine, who also built the matching shelving and casework.
“I know I’ll have to accommodate that locust bloom of kids that comes up Wydown after school each day,” McGuire previously told SLM. “Like any good neighborhood market, we’ll have something for them.”
At the rear of the store, customers will find raw products from notable meat purveyors, including Creekstone Farm, Blackhawk Farms (known for the ground beef used in Wright’s Tavern’s cheeseburger), and Porter Road (a Nashville-based, premium meat company owned by St. Louisan and Niche alum James Piesker). The store also offers pottery made by McGuire’s daughter, Grace, a Louisville-based ceramicist, as well as inlaid wood cutting boards from craftsman John Rice, a former local restaurateur (with Space, Colorado, Redel’s, Red L’s)–turned–realtor.
The Menu
The prepared food offerings at Box Hill Grocer span a range of ready-to-eat and bake-ready items designed for convenience and quality. Two center islands display an array of cheeses, spreads, dips, sauces, salad dressings, and charcuterie board essentials, including Nueske’s meat products. The store also features a refrigerated case stocked with small farm eggs, butter, and milk products.
Customers can pick up quick-to-prepare options such as soups, chowders, and lobster bisque, as well as salads and sides such as roasted carrots with sumac, orange, and mint. The rotating selection includes quiche, house-smoked meat sandwiches on Union Loafers bread, and more substantial mains like grilled smoked shrimp, grilled swordfish, and popular dishes from McGuire’s restaurants—Wright’s crabcakes and potato-encrusted halibut, plus Louie’s hummus, pasta dishes, and potentially a grab-and-go version of the beloved Roman Gnocco.
On the beverage side, customers can choose from a curated selection of wines, sparkling and still waters, craft beers, and specialty drinks such as French sparkling blood orange lemonade from Lorina. Additionally, several varieties of Kaldi’s Coffee are available for purchase; Natural High, a fair-trade organic blend, is served as the store’s house drip coffee.
The kitchen is led by chef Josh Poletti, a seasoned roundsman from Louie and Wright’s, whose resume includes Monarch, The Libertine, Niche, Pastaria, and Basso. At Box Hill, Poletti aims to create “foods you love but may not know how to make well at home.”
Hospitality veteran Molly Aceves, long time Annie Gunn’s manager and former general manager at Olive + Oak and Balkan Treat Box, is the store’s general manager.
The Background
McGuire’s star began to rise with the establishment of the legendary King Louie’s restaurant, which was located in an obscure industrial area on Chouteau Avenue. After college, McGuire and a few friends bought a college bar that developed into a neighborhood bar and grill, “except we didn’t have a neighborhood,” McGuire previously told SLM. “And from there, as a survival tactic, really, we turned it into a fine dining restaurant. For people to make the trek, it had to be special.”
Indeed, it was. When the viaduct that connected the restaurant to its constituents took two years to rebuild rather than one, however, sales faltered and never recovered. After King Louie’s closed, in 2007, McGuire ran some of St. Louis’ most renowned restaurants: Monarch, Herbie’s, Central Table Food Hall, Brasserie, and Niche.
Before leaving to open Louie, McGuire was director of service at Niche Food Group, which involved nurturing and finding new people, both managers and employees, two areas where he excelled. “I was good at having that ‘maybe this isn’t for you’ conversation, as well as convincing people who never thought of management that they’d be good at it,” he told SLM in 2017.
Louie opened to rave reviews in December of that year and remains one of the most popular area restaurants, often landing on the playlist for visiting celebrities.
Five years later, in December 2022, McGuire opened the 35-seat Wright’s Tavern, which has serviced a full house every night since the day it opened.
And while some might wonder why the restaurateur is now pivoting into the grocery business, part of the reason is that it’s in his blood.
“My grandfather was a neighborhood grocer all his life,” he told SLM, “and just down from Wright’s, there used to be a grocery, Wydown Market. So for me, being able to reopen a neighborhood place like that just felt like something I should do.”
