Some men dream of making millions. Mark Wilson dreams of meat.

Selecting it, butchering it, selling it, elevating it from a lowly chunk of the everyday food pyramid to an extraordinary edible experience – meat makes Wilson tick.

“I’m not selling you a rib roast or an Easter ham,” he says. “I’m selling memories.”

And until now, Wilson’s lifelong passion lacked only one thing: a meat market of his own.

This week, that changed. Mike Deering, longtime owner of Maxbauer Speciality Meat Market, sold the almost century-old neighborhood icon to Wilson.

“We have prayed in our household for years for a meat market for Mark,” says Stephanie Wilson, Mark’s wife. “You could hear our six-year-old daughter at the dinner table: ‘’Thanks for the food, our life, and if you could ever find a meat market for my dad, that’d be great. Amen.’”

Though the transfer of ownership was a smooth one – Wilson previously worked for Deering at Maxbauer, and the pair remained close since – the path to it wasn’t a straight line.

The young butcher had left Maxbauer in 2005 for an opportunity to helm a new meat market on the other side of town, Franek’s. But the shop didn’t survive long, and soon after, Wilson found himself out of the meat industry altogether, working as a customer service trainer for a national retailer.

All the while though, he says he continued nurturing his dream of owning his own market – fine-tuning his business plan, maintaining his relationships with suppliers, looking at locations and always asking his old friend Mike Deering when he might be ready to sell.

For years, the answer always had been the same, says Wilson: Nope, not yet. And then, just when Wilson says he was about to chuck his dream and accept a promotion in Grand Rapids … ?

“[Deering] said he was ready,” says Wilson, a note of disbelief still in his voice.

“I feel confident,” Deering says of his decision. “Mark has all the tools he needs. He was trained by an old-time cutter like me, and he’s got good mechanics, good depth. And he knows the history.”

The store, opened in 1913 by Albert and Tony Maxbauer and run by Mike Deering’s uncles Barney and Tom Deering from 1950 until he bought it from them in 1980, has a long tradition of focusing on quality and customer relationships, says Deering.

“The whole key is give Mrs. Shopper or Mr. Shopper a good experience. One bad deal could be the end of it – you could lose ’em forever,” he says. “Basically, the old boys trained my uncles, my uncles trained me, and hopefully there was some lessons we all learned that stood the test.”

Though he’s handing over the reins, Deering will continue working beside his protégé at Maxbauer’s meat counter and says he’s eager to watch Wilson move the shop forward into its next century of service.

Wilson says he’s ready as ever. “I don’t want to be 50 years old and say I didn’t do what I wanted to do. I’m 43, and this is my dream,” he says. “This is the perfect place for me to be.”