PREBLE COUNTY — A new Eaton-based delivery service will look to provide a comprehensive delivery option to rural residents.
Store2DoorPreble, founded by Eaton resident Phil Smith in 2020, offers same-day home delivery from any restaurant, grocer or pharmacy within a 15-minute drive of Eaton.
Smith’s inspiration for Store2DoorPreble came after a car accident in 2016 which left him on a ventilator with collapsed lungs, a broken neck and a broken back.
During his year of bedrest, Smith, then a New Paris resident, had numerous options for store and restaurant delivery through services such as Instacart, Doordash and Grubhub given his proximity to Richmond, Ind.
After moving to Eaton in last year, however, he found those services weren’t present for the over 8,000 that call Preble County’s seat home. While many restaurants around the area deliver independently, few options existed for those in need of groceries or medicine, and this is where Smith felt he needed to step in.
“I looked at all of these other business models. I looked at how they work, what their service provides, and I thought, ‘You know what, there’s no reason why we can’t create our own local, true, personal delivery service or shopping service,’” Smith said. “There’s no reason why we can’t at prices people can afford.”
Orders for restaurants and groceries can be placed through Store2DoorPreble’s app, available at https://www.store2doorpreble.com, and medicine can be picked up by coordinating with Smith. Alcohol can also be delivered, and age verification is required.
While no membership is required other than signing up in the app, Smith’s company charges a flat delivery fee of $12 for deliveries from local restaurants, pharmacies and curbside pickup, while grocery trips will incur a $15 delivery fee.
“I looked at what’s reasonable,” Smith said about his prices. “I just came up with with a number that I thought, ‘What would I be willing to pay?’”
The beginning of Smith’s business coincided with a global pandemic that kept more people at home than ever before, and this stressed to him how much a service like this is needed in the area.
“We still have COVID. There are still people who are leery about going out in public,” Smith said. “Maybe that will change, but I am convinced with all the studies and all the data that I have seen from major marketing companies that home delivery is here to stay.”
