T-L Photo/GAGE VOTA Southern Caliber original hot sauces are available in six original flavors.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — The Ohio Valley Mall is welcoming a new store called Southern Caliber.

On Friday, the mall welcomed its newest store to Belmont County. Southern Caliber is owned and operated by Joseph Nicolais.

“We’ve never been here, but we just took a risk,” Nicolais said while speaking about deciding to move to and set up shop in Belmont County.

Nicolais, who is originally from Parkersburg, West Virginia, and is a former business owner in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, said while looking for an ideal location he found that the Ohio Valley Mall was a perfect cross-section between Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Columbus, Ohio.

“We’re called Southern Caliber, and it’s not based on the bullet but the caliber of the person. We try and be friendly and welcoming to everyone,” Nicolais said.

Southern Caliber offers one of the largest hot sauce collections in the Ohio Valley. It has its own original hot sauce brand called Southern Caliber. The original hot sauce brand comes in six unique flavors.

“We only carry products that have a 4.8 or higher on the Scoville scale,” Nicolais said.

According to the definition of the Scoville scale on Scovillescale.org, “The Scoville Scale is a measurement of pungency (spiciness or “heat“) of chili peppers and other substances, recorded in Scoville heat units.”

Aside from hot sauces, the store also offers barbecue sauces, dry rubs, jams, jellies, coffee and military apparel. According to Nicolais, over 90% of all products in the store are made by veteran-owned companies.

Southern Caliber is located next to Finish Line in the Ohio Valley Mall.