Round the Rock Magazine: The Deli Family

It’s All Because of the Small Town Support – introducing the Deli Family

Sandy Deli knows a thing or two about Round Rock and the importance of local business support.  She has spent the last 13 years owning a small store in our great city and fully credits the support of Round Rock residents to the success of both her businesses and the charity she created from them. 

After growing up in Pennsylvania and getting a degree in medical technology from Penn State, her father moved his bathtub refinishing business to Round Rock in 1976. Sandy and her husband, Vince, followed them and have been here ever since. 

“Vince and I have lived here for 40 years now and the ‘small town’ feel of Round Rock continues today. Although the population has changed significantly, (4000 back in 1976!) Round Rock still feels like that small sleepy town we moved to 40 years ago.”  Deli recalls. 

Sandy & Vince raised their son, Vincent Jr. here in Round Rock.  They lived near downtown and some of their favorite memories were the many nights they spent at the ballfields at the end of Main Street, eating sausage wraps for dinner and watching their son play Little League baseball. 

At that time, Sandy took a job as the very first medical technologist for the newly built Round Rock Hospital (today, it is known as Saint David’s Hospital Round Rock).  Sandy had a successful career and worked her way into medical sales.  She enjoyed sales and the rewards that came with it. 

Then in 2007, while building a pool, she couldn’t find beautiful landscape pottery to decorate with.  So, Sandy started Round Rock Pottery while she still had a full-time job. Round Rock Pottery not only carried exquisite pottery pieces, it featured home decor and floral arrangements as well. While she started it as a hobby and had very limited hours, she was working 7 days a week and it was getting to be a lot.  

When she decided to retire from her corporate job in August of 2013, she wanted to run her business full-time and knew that selling landscape pottery and water features wouldn’t be enough. Sandy brought in products that typically would be found in a boutique or gift store and in 2013, opened Mays Street Boutique. 

Sandy’s daughter-in-law asked her to look into selling Kendra Scott jewelry and after a long vetting process, Mays Street Boutique became the first boutique in the area to sell Kendra Scott.  

“Little did I know how popular this jewelry was. It put Mays Street Boutique on the map! The rest is history!” Deli said.

“It was good from the get go.  And it’s because of the community support. Supporting small and supporting local has become even more important.”

Because of the success of Mays Street Boutique, Sandy began looking for opportunities to give back to the community.  She was on the board of the Chasco YMCA and supported many of their events.  She was one of several who helped with the annual Fashion Show at Texas Baptist Children’s Home.  And MSB also sponsored a therapy horse for many years at ROCK, Ride On Center for Kids in Georgetown. And she has also sponsored and donated to several schools, sports and various organizations all over the community. 

The Delis always had a special place in their hearts for disabled veterans.  In 2005, Sandy had a 28-year-old cousin killed while on his 4th tour in Fallujah with the Marines.  So she always knew that she wanted to find a way to help and in 2016, she formed the Mays Street Charity. 

After hearing about trackchairs, an all-terrain wheelchair that can help wounded veterans get anywhere – especially hunting and fishing, she partnered with the locally owned business that builds trackchairs, Carlson Mobility, to begin fundraising to purchase chairs for organizations in Williamson County. 

Through various events, such as a Woman’s Expo and the annual Jingle Bell Bash, Sandy was able to purchase a total of 5 chairs in four years time – two for Texas Hunters for Heroes, a pediatric chair for ROCK, a trackstander for disabled vet and former APD Officer, Tammy Renfro, and most recently, a chair for Veterans Outdoors.  Veterans Outdoors is an organization honors wounded veterans’ patriotism and their sacrifice by providing quality hunting, fishing and outdoor related activities.

“It’s heartwarming to see that the work that you have done and the money that you have raised is going back to a good cause.  It’s all a part of giving back again to the community that helped support you from the start.” Deli said. 

Last year, Sandy felt the time was right for her to retire.  She and Vince began building their retirement home out in the country and she was ready to put Mays Street Boutique up for sale.  Little did she know, the perfect new owner would be her son and daughter-in-law, Vince and Ashley Deli. 

After getting married at the little chapel at the Texas Baptist Children’s Home, Vince & Ashley settled in the Round Rock area over 18 years ago and have raised their two daughters, Avery (16) and Alivia (12). They are both very active in the community as well, serving on the Chasco YMCA Board of Directors as well.  So it was a natural fit for Ashley to become the boutique’s new owner at the beginning of 2020. 

New ownership and a pandemic all in the same few months?  Ashley has handled it all with grace and gusto, quickly launching a new website and offering curbside pick-up during the shutdown.  

“Business has been positive – we were able to use the time effectively.  We created a website so that even though our doors were not physically open, we could still offer the great products our customers loved.” Ashley recalls.

As you can imagine, local support of small businesses is even more important than ever. And it’s time to support these business owners who have given back so richly to the community like the Deli’s have.