Allen's Supermarket
by Susan Marquez
|
Allen’s Supermarket has been a fixture in Brandon since 1967, serving generations of shoppers who desire great selection and great service. Murphy Allen had been in the grocery business in Pearl for several years before the company he worked for was bought out by Star Supermarkets. About that time, Murphy’s father-in-law, Billy Jenkins, wanted to open a convenience store in Brandon, as there was not one in the area. What started in 1967 as a small, one-room convenience store in the Greenfield community of Brandon, has evolved over the years to be a family owned and run grocery story that draws customers from a three-county area.
“My parents both grew up working in the cotton fields,” says Mark Allen, Murphy’s son. “My dad is one of twelve children. He got out of the Army and went back to high school. It’s amazing that he has accomplished so much coming from so little.” Mark runs the store today, and recalls growing up in the store with his brother, Van. “When we were old enough to stand up by a cash register, we began bagging groceries, stacking groceries and dusting shelves,” Mark says. “We got paid a whopping $2.00 a day!” Mark studied drafting and design in college and went to work for a company that designed and built convenience stores. That took him to Tempe, Arizona, for three years. And while he loved desert living, he was ready to move closer to home. “I took a job in Hammond doing engineering and development for Supervalu stores.” Mark built and designed stores for Supervalu until his dad called 21 years ago and told Mark it was time to come home. “Dad was 67 years old and he was tired,” says Mark. “So I moved back to Rankin County to run the store.” Over the years, the original eight-foot by ten-foot convenience store was razed to make room for a parking lot with a storage building in the back. The grocery store has been added on to three times since it was first built, bringing it to around 18,000 square feet. The store features a full butcher department where meats can be cut to order. “We carry prime, choice and select beef, all cut any way the customer wants it. If they want a larger roast than one we have in the bin, we’ll cut them one. We grind all of our ground beef daily.” Mark says that at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, he paid close attention to what was happening in France and Italy. “There were meat shortages there, so we began to fill up two big meat coolers. By the time the pandemic hit our area, we were well stocked and never ran out of meat.” One of the top selling items in the store is their own pork sausage. “We sell several thousand pounds of sausage a year,” Mark says. The sausage is ground and seasoned at his brother’s meat processing company, Van’s Deer Processing in Brandon. The number one seller is a pineapple pepper jack sausage. Other popular flavors include jalapeno and cheese, bell pepper and green onion. “We’ve had people from as far away as Ohio come in and buy a hundred pounds of sausage to take home.” Mark says the store also sells cooked roast beef made with their own family recipe, as well as stuffed pork chops and stuffed bell peppers. They buy from the largest coop in the country. “They have ten wholesale divisions, and you have to buy stock in the coop in order to buy from them. The coop serves 32 states, and I buy more meat than any of the other stores in all ten divisions! We have people who come from Gluckstadt, Madison, and all over Jackson and Clinton just to buy meat from us!” The store also offers gasoline, and Mark says that the bag boys will run out and pump gas for the customers. “They also bag and carry out groceries.” At age 88, Murphy Allen still works in the store he started with his father-in-law. “Dad works in the produce department a few days a week, which he really enjoys,” says Mark. His mom, Billie (aka “Shorty”) did bookkeeping for the store until Mark came to work there. “She retired at 62, and is still active, growing a garden, and staying busy.” The secret to the store’s longevity, says Mark, is their commitment to customer service. “I learned long ago to never try to sell anything I wouldn’t put on my own table.” Family is important to Mark, who says they treat their customers and employees like family. “We have several retirees who work for us, and they do it because they want to. They know how to take care of customers, and we really appreciate that.” |
Rankin September 2020 |