Sunset Variety was sold on Tuesday, Oct. 3. The previous owners, Don and Christine McClellan, are moving on – but not out – of the neighborhood.

“It’s time for a change,” said Don and Christine McClellan, the previous owners of the store. “We’ve been at it for more than 13 years now, and we want to go do something else.”

Don McClellan, now 60, has no plans of retirement.

“I was thinking about doing something like my old job,” McClellan said. He used to be a sales representative for RJ Reynolds for 19 years, selling cigarettes to local stores. Currently, he is looking into a code enforcement officer position in the area.

“I think he would be great at that,” said Tim Johnson of Raymond, one of the store’s frequent patrons and a local contractor. “The man knows this town inside and out, and just about all the people in it.”

Christine McClellan, not far behind her husband in age, is planning her next entrepreneurial venture.

“Right now, I’m going to get the Mosquito moved over to the other side of the store,” she said. The Mosquito is Christine’s summer ice-cream business, which she started not long after her and her husband bought the store in the winter of 1994. “Well, not moved. They bought the building. But I’m going to build the Mosquito a new home, honey. One step at a time. After that, I’ll see where I’m at and what I want to do.”

This has been Christine’s basic business practice. It has led the family from the initial acquisition of Sunset to much of its surrounding acreage.

“My mom just needs to take a break,” said Travis McClellan, the couple’s son. “I need to take a break, man.” Travis is unsure about his long-term plans, but is sure for the next week he will sleep heavily, without worry.

Travis has been with Sunset Variety since before his parents bought it, and is the source for much of the store’s current menu. Prior experience in the food business and at another sandwich shop gave him the experience and ideas to prepare many of Sunset’s sandwiches.

“Everyone that works somewhere, or in something long enough, has good ideas about how to do something differently and possibly better,” Travis said. “But a lot of the time you can’t implement them because you’re working for someone else who has a set of ideas all his/her own. That’s the nice thing about owning your own business, the ability to experiment with ideas. Though, you do have to be careful.”

Don and Jan Warren, the new owners of Sunset Variety, plan to keep the McClellan’s menu and add more items to it such as their pizza and possibly fried foods. The couple used to own D&J’s, which they closed after sealing the deal with the McClellans.

“I don’t know,” said Don Warren, who is concerned about making everyone happy. “I think I’ll just keep the bread and stuff Sunset already gets, and order what I used to get too. That way all the regulars can get what they’ve been getting, and all of my old customers can get what they want too.”

Many customers have asked if the current staff is going to continue working at the establishment; they say they are.

Donald McClellan also plans to stick around for a while to help the new owners familiar themselves with the building, its facilities, and all of the daily and weekly operations they are not yet accustomed to, such as the many vendors and their deliveries.

“I’m not going anywhere just yet,” Don McClellan said. “I want to make sure they’re up to speed first.

“Besides, I’ve got to figure out what the heck I’m going to do with myself.”