Howell’s Grocery & Restaurant was poised to celebrate 100 years of business with an all-day event at the store on Saturday, May 4, but the event will be rescheduled due to weather concerns.
“I don’t have a new date yet. It’s to be determined right now. Hopefully, we’ll have it in the next few weeks, but I don’t know,” said Matthew Holt, grandson of current owner Leon Howell. “Hopefully, before Saturday we’ll have a new date planned, that’s my goal.”
While the official 100-year anniversary was in April, Holt the family hoped it would be celebrated in May. However, there is a 45-80 percent chance of rain on May 4, with possible thunderstorms.
Holt said the event will be held outside and the restaurant will be closed that day.
If it’s pretty weather, it’s going to be a big event. That’s what I’m planning for anyways,” Holt said.
Seven bands were scheduled to take the stage, and Holt said he plans to rehire them, providing their schedules are open.
“The music will start at noon and go on until 6:30 p.m., when the last performance ends. Each band will play 45 minutes,” he said.
Visitors are encouraged to bring their lawn chairs, and Holt said a hotdog, chips, and dessert will be available for $1.
“We’ve got 1,500 hotdogs we plan to sell. On a normal day we do like 125-150. So, it’ll be 10 times a normal day,” he said. “We did the same thing 25 years ago for the 75th anniversary, except it was 75 cents. Now 25 years later, it’s $1.”
Glass bottle sodas and candy bars also will be sold at $1 each, and “we’re going to mark a whole bunch of stuff on our shelves down for $1, and it’s just that one day,” he said.
Holt said his great-grandfather Harry Howell purchased the building that now houses the store and restaurant from the bank in 1924.
“He had it until he passed away in 1971, where it was left to my grandfather and, I think, three of his brothers. It wasn’t long before my grandfather had bought out the brothers,” Holt said, adding that his grandfather has owned the business independently since 1980.
“He still owns it, but he’ll be 85 this year,” Holt said.
When the store first started, Holt said the original building was an old general store. The current building opened in 1962 as a garage and store.
“The restaurant wasn’t here; it was a garage. If you look at the windows, those were the garage door, that’s why the windows are so big. There were two bays that you could pull (vehicles) into,” Holt said, adding that he believes the garage transitioned into a restaurant in the early 1980s.
Like many children of business owners, Holt said he grew up in the store.
“I remember pumping gas when it was full service, and pumping” gas for people who came by. “I was little. I remember filling up drink orders and merchandising shelves,” he said.
Leon Howell said when he thinks about the store, hard work and long hours come to mind.
“It’s a rough road. It really was and is. I worked 100 (hours) a week out there for probably eight years” before he decided he had to cut his hours.
Because he didn’t want to deprive himself or his workers of the opportunity to go to church, Howell kept the business closed on Sundays for more than 40 years. On Friday and Saturday nights, Howell said he kept the store open until around 11:30 p.m. because there were several workers working second shift at the nearby textile mills.
“When they got off at 11 p.m., I’d serve a lot of customers coming in after 11-11:15 p.m. in 15-20 minutes, stopping out there getting different things. You got to take care of your customer,” he said.
While he didn’t particularly care for it, Howell said he saw quickly that if he wanted to run a convenience store, he would have to sell beer.
“You could come in and get beer, cigarettes, snacks, and stuff like that. We have a good number of people that come and eat breakfast with us, sometimes it’s running over,” he said of the restaurant portion.
While Howell’s has its regular customers, Howell said he also sees a lot of new faces, as does Dean Mabe, a shift manager, who has worked at the store for 40 years this June. Several other workers also have long tenures at the business as well.
“I got some good girls out there, good workers. I got some good workers, and I push cleanliness,” Howell said.
Although Howell claims he “doesn’t do nothing much” or “very little,” he continues to go between the store/restaurant and Howell’s Furniture to keep an eye on things.
“I think the customers … they expect me to be around,” Howell said. “They say, ‘Well, I haven’t seen you lately,’ Well, I’m still here, so I’d be here or out there one,” he said, inclining his ear in the direction of the other business.
Howell typically gets to the store/restaurant around 8:30 a.m. for breakfast. He leaves there for Howell’s Furniture before 12 p.m., and then goes home by 6 p.m.
“That’s enough hours in right now,” he said.
