By Jim Waldron – Originally published in the 1998 Founder’s Review
Russell’s Thriftway has been closed for 10 years, but the customers who shopped there still remember it fondly. From 1964 to 1987, Thriftway was a center of activity in Belleview, not only because it was the main place in Belleview to buy groceries, but it was also a center of social activity as well. In the 1960s and ’70s, Belleview was still a small enough town that on any given day you could go to Thriftway and know half the people shopping that day. On the sidewalk outside the store, there was a yard, bake, or ticket sale every weekend. Many evenings, there were concerts, dances, or dinners held in the parking lot.
“We had a great relationship with our customers,” remembers Russell Still, who was manager of the store from beginning to end. “We always sold good products at competitive prices and we worked to have a friendly atmosphere,” he said. Still came to Belleview in 1963 as the 21-year-old manager of the Belleview Super Market, which was located in the building where Seminole Feed is today.
The Belleview Super Market had opened in 1954 and was owned by Jimmy Johnson. In 1963, it was purchased by Jack Greene of Port Orange. “I applied for the position of manager, was interviewed at Certified Grocers and got the job,” said Still. “I was told then a new store was going to be built on the other side of the highway and we were going to move when the new store was completed.” In 1964, the new building was completed and the 11 employees of the Belleview Super Market moved into Thriftway. “Business was really slow at the beginning,” said Still. “A lot of people don’t realize that we lost money each of the first two years we were there.”
Then suddenly the business took off. It began a steady pattern of increasing sales that made it the top store in Marion County for selling certain products and its sales records made Thriftway one of the top 5 independent supermarkets in the state of Florida. In 1972, Still bought the store from Jack Greene and changed the name to “Russell’s Thriftway”. “I think the store was the first indicator that South Marion County was about to experience rapid growth,” Still said. “When a local grocery store does as well as we were doing, you knew that a lot of people were moving into the area.” Still said employees worked very hard to keep the store “customer-friendly.” If a customer requested the store to carry a certain product, they would stock it, even if there was only one customer buying it. Regular customers at the store could cash checks without identification. By the mid-1980s, the store had expanded in size and had increased its staff to 65 employees and was still increasing sales each year. Business was so good that the Belleview Police dispatched a police car to take store employees to make bank deposits. With the South Marion area growing rapidly, Still made a decision that he later regretted. He closed the Thriftway and opened a new grocery store in the K-Mart Shopping Center. ”
“Winn Dixie had opened a store on the north end of town and was doing well years after it opened and Kash ‘N Karry had also opened a store just down the street. People would come up to me all the time and tell me how much they missed the Thriftway. “It was an excellent location and the store had a great atmosphere,” he said. “People loved it.”
“Certified Grocers told me they were going to put a store in the K-Mart Shopping Center. I could have it if I wanted it or they would find someone else. “So I decided to close Thriftway and move to K-Mart,” he said. Still opened the new store in the K-Mart Shopping Center, but it never caught on. The location was different and the atmosphere had changed. The customers from Thriftway didn’t follow to the new location, opting instead to shop at Kash ‘N Karry or Winn Dixie.
