James Hales: Groceries were big business in mid-century Rogers

The second Food Town at Poplar and Eighth being remodeled in September 2006 into the supermarket Supermercado La Villita. (Courtesy Photo/James Hales)
The second Food Town at Poplar and Eighth being remodeled in September 2006 into the supermarket Supermercado La Villita. (Courtesy Photo/James Hales)

When the decade of the 1960s began, things were popping in Rogers. New industry was coming to town and Beaver Lake was being created. Local folks had spending money, autos and the ability to travel. Rogers was being transformed, with the center of commerce moving from downtown out to the newly built shopping centers. So, during this reformation, what was happening with grocery shopping and what businesses were thriving during this decade? Here is the story of some of the major grocers:

Food Town

Homer L. Fleeman started Food Town in 1945 on the corner of Poplar and Eighth streets. It was the first true supermarket in Rogers and provided the first self-service grocery shopping with shopping carts. Previously, customers would supply a list and the merchant would gather the merchandise.

In 1961, Fleeman built a new Food Town grocery behind his original store and, tore down the old store for parking. In 1965, Food Town was enlarged (three years after Walmart opened less than a block away) and became one of the first stores in Northwest Arkansas to offer groceries and a variety line under one roof. The newly remodeled store offered groceries, health and beauty aids, clothes, hardware, toys, gifts, cards, flowers and a jewelry section.

In 1966, Food Town added Coast to Coast Hardware to the store. In 1967, H. L. Fleeman was general manager, Bill Fleeman was manager, and Leroy Fleeman was manager of the grocery department. In 1968, Food Town boasted having the largest garden supply center in Rogers.

In 2007, the old Food Town at Poplar and Eighth became the supermarket Supermercado La Villita.

Phillips and Sons

On May 23, 1946, Marvin Phillips, formerly with Kroger and A&P food stores, announced the opening of the new Phillips and Sons Grocery at 202 S. First St. He was assisted by his three sons, Doyle, Harlan and Odell. In 1960, the store was modernized with an aluminum store front, new windows and glass doors.

In September 1963, Doyle Phillips auctioned the store's entire line of grocery fixtures and refrigeration equipment and completely remodeled the store with the latest National cash registers, check-out counters and facilities.

In 1963, 17 years after the store was founded, the personnel were Charles Harvey, Ronnie Ricketts, Gary Whorton, Della Guyll, Doyle Phillips (owner/manager), Wade Guyll, Don Hendrickson and Lonnie Guyll (market manager). Phillips and Sons was at home in the old Commercial/Potter Hotel building from 1946 until about 1975. When Phillips and Sons moved out of the building in the mid 1970s, the building was torn down and the location became part of the Harris Baking Company.

Croxdale's IGA

In the early 1940s, the southwest corner of First and Elm was the home of Croxdale's IGA in the Hotel Potter building. But when Daisy Manufacturing came to Rogers in 1958 and spurred unprecedented growth, businesses began expanding and moving out to west Rogers along West Walnut and U.S. 71. One of them was Croxdale's Corner Grocery. In July 1959, Jim Croxdale and his partner, Jimmie Rieff, opened a new 12,000 square foot, $400,000 supermarket at the corner of West Walnut and Seventh streets. The IGA Thriftway was an ultra-modern facility, and had 18 full-time employees, paved parking for 99 cars, 100 shopping carts and five checkers with motorized checkout counters. The store was fully air-conditioned and had automatic doors that opened when patrons stepped on a rubber carpet in front of each door -- features unique for Rogers. Assistant managers of the store when it opened were Gene Barnes and Ronnie Harlan.

The outstanding employees of IGA Thriftway in May 1963 were Big Jim Croxdale and Jimmie Rieff, owners; Jim Johnston, assistant manager; Gerald Dean, produce manager; Oleta Stone, bookkeeper; Maxine Brown, Helen Barber, Irene Ragsdale and Pat Pollock, cashiers.

The IGA Thriftway remained at 715 W. Walnut St. until 1973, when Walmart and IGA both moved across the street to the new Plaza Shopping Center.

City Meat Market

The City Meat Market was started in 1935 at 122 S. First St. by O.E. Finn. The City Grocery and Meat Market operated from 1935 until at least 1975 in the same location. It was famous not only for its fine products, but also because a child could always get a free piece of bubble gum from Otis Finn or Red Reddick.

"Otis Finn had a farm and slaughterhouse north of town on Hwy. 102. They would slaughter the beef, cut them in half and haul the meat covered with a sheet in a pickup truck to the alley in back of the market. There they had an overhead trolley that was used to transport the beef halves into the back of the store. They had the best meat in town." (Interview by James Hales with Al Skaggs, August 2006)

The City Market was threatened by two major fires on each side of the business. On Aug. 12, 1959, a fire gutted Croxdale's IGA Corner Grocery, next door south in the same building. The City Market suffered only smoke damage from that fire. The next year, in December 1960, on the north side of the market, there was a disastrous fire which destroyed the Linkway Furniture and Hardware building. Firemen from Rogers and Springdale saved the City Market with only smoke damage.

Garner's Grocery

Garner's Grocery at 522 N. Second St. was started in 1933 when Hubert and Ruth Garner bought the small grocery and single gas pump from Joe Head. The store was at the corner of North Second and Locust streets. After World War II, their son, Jack Garner, came home from the war and became the owner and operator until 1959, when he sold the store to Vester Jenkins. Jenkins changed the name to the Northside Grocery, and it did business throughout the 1960s. Later the store was owned by Maurice and Letha Deason. It was torn down about 2013 to make room for the new Casey's General Store.

Farmers Produce

During World War II, Charles Garrett opened the Farmers Produce Grocery and Market at 201 S. Arkansas St. Bonnie Hardy Deason commented on Facebook: "Charlie Garrett had a chicken feed store in the back and his personal office in the south end of the building. Dean Bull was his grocery manager, and Dean and his wife, Doy, bought it from Charlie and expanded it." The business operated throughout the 1960s as the Warehouse Supermarket. The building was occupied by Swift Chemical for many years, but it was torn down recently.

Piggly Wiggly

The first shopping center in Rogers was Southgate on U.S. 71 South. Southgate Center opened in 1966 and one of the original stores was Jay Ferrel's Piggly Wiggly Grocery. This was a modern chain supermarket and operated until 1970. Then it became the IGA Thriftway South. Rance Cooper shared his memories on Facebook: "I was the first 'sacker' (or bag boy) to be hired in Southgate Shopping Center after Jim Croxdale and Jim Reif took over the site of the former Piggly Wiggly. The new store was managed by Jim Johnston. I started work there a couple of weeks before the grand opening. I remember the very first thing that Jim Johnston had me do was to follow him to the back room where I found cartload after cartload of pop bottles that were left over from when the store had been Piggly Wiggly. I sorted pop bottles by size and brand for hours!"

Dillon's

About 1967, a new store opened at 1310 W. Walnut St. across from St. Mary's Hospital. Dillon's Grocery was a chain store based in Kansas and brought new innovations to grocery shopping in Rogers. Here are some comments from a popular Rogers' Facebook site:

Strad Will: "I worked at Dillon's when it first opened; Andy Nissan was the manager. Kathy Fairchild, Allen McCasland, Robert Pruitt, Ron McDonald, Mike Bingham, Fred Demeter (butcher), Leona Webb (bakery), Duel Stewart, and others worked there. That was back when they would actually sack your groceries and carry them out to your car. Dillon's was kind of a radical concept in Rogers since it had a bakery and cooked meats in the butchery. It was fun place to work, a kind of party atmosphere -- if the manager wasn't watching."

Gale Weaver Foerster: "My mother, Pauline Weaver, worked in the bakery at Dillon's when it first opened. I don't remember a lot about the store except Mom always smelled like fresh baked bread when she came home."

Sherri Caldwell Garner: "Dillon's had the best hot rolls around. My mother would stop and get them for Sunday dinner."

Dillon's closed sometime in the mid-1970s.

Grocery shopping evolved in Rogers during the 1960s, but no one could have possibly predicted the amazing selections and variety of products offered in our stores today.

photo

The original Food Town started in this store in 1945 at the southwest corner of Eighth and Poplar streets. (Courtesy Photo/Fleeman Family and Gary Townzen)

NAN Our Town on 05/28/2020

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