Sunflower Food Store.. an original Mississippi chain?

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KMJonOBR
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Joined: 06 May 2009 17:59
Location: Jackson, Mississippi
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Sunflower Food Store.. an original Mississippi chain?

Post by KMJonOBR »

Hey this seems to be an age old question that no one seems to know the answer too.. there are many stores operating under the name Sunflower in Mississippi and Louisiana... these stores all seem to be locally owned or operated by smaller independent chains and they have many different suppliers, Supervalu and Associated Grocers of Baton Rouge (Shurfine), just to name two. The question is, where did this chain come from? Was there originally a supermarket chain called Sunflower Food Stores? They seem to be primarily in small towns. As a native Mississippian, having grown up in Jackson, the name Sunflower Food Store is almost a household name. At one time, the stores were as common to us as dirt, kinda like Piggly Wiggly.
There were two Sunflower stores that I know of in Jackson.
Sunflower at the corner of Mill Street and Monument Street in Downtown is now New Deal Supermarket, another independent.
Sunflower at Jackson Mall (now Jackson Medical Mall), this store became New Deal Supermarket and was set to become Save-A-Lot, but it never happened and is now part of the Jackson Medical Mall.
Recently, a store opened in Raymond as Sunflower Food Store. This store was a Jitney Jungle, before becomming Winn-Dixie 2000, Corner Market in 2005, and now Sunflower still owned by the current owners, Roberts Companies out of Hattiesburg.
KMJonOBR
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Joined: 06 May 2009 17:59
Location: Jackson, Mississippi
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Re: Sunflower Food Store.. an original Mississippi chain?

Post by KMJonOBR »

I almost forgot...

There was a Sunflower in a Jackson suburb Florence, MS but this is now Ramey's Marketplace, also an independent.

Once upon a time, a Sunflower existed in Brandon, MS but is now a chancery court house or something like that.

There was a Sunflower Grocery in Pearl, MS that location became Bill's Dollar Store and is now Family Dollar. Ironically, this past summer I was in there and on the back door to the store was a back door/unloading/stocking rules letter taped that was titled "Sunflower Food Stores" dated mid 80s. I was quite surprised to see this note still taped to the door for this long and having gone through reincarnation as two dollar store chains.
dooneyt63
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Re: Sunflower Food Store.. an original Mississippi chain?

Post by dooneyt63 »

Sunflower Food Stores were originally owned by the Lewis Grocer Company from Indianola, MS. Just this past year, Mr. Celian Lewis, the last Lewis to helm the chain, passed away at his home in Destin (he lived at my condominium complex). The Lewis family sold the chain to Supervalu who had long been their supplier. For many years, it was kept pretty much intact and operated as always, albeit with less Sally's product and more Flavorite, Chateau, etc. The chain had a large store base in Jackson with prominent stores at Maywood Mart(now McDade's)and Colonial Mart (now Fred's) and on Meadowbrook Road (now Piggly Wiggly) as well as the aforementioned stores. They have made several interesting moves over the years in the Jackson market, purchasing the old A&P stores when A&P finally left Jackson (and Pearl). These Sunflowers did not last long. The West Capital store became a Family Dollar after sitting vacant for years. The Pearl store became Gateway Rescue Mission before they moved to the old Wickes Lumber facility. The I-55 store quickly became Cowboy Maloney's Electric City. Also, in the late 1980's, the company opened a stylish store at MS 25 and Grant's Ferry Road near Mill Creek Place. Shortly thereafter, the cohesiveness began to disappear. Stores closed, Maywood morphed into McDade's, small town stores held onto the name but did not always retain unified suppliers...Collins had IGA name and product alongside the Sunflower name. I believe Supervalu still exercises some control over the name. They used the name for a limited trial of stores along the lines of Whole Foods or Wild Oats.

The original Sunflower stores were pretty well-run and featured great meat markets and an extensive line of Sally's products (for mascot Sally Sunflower) . Several had in-store bakeries and deli counters before that became common even in national operations.
Cajungenes

Re: Sunflower Food Store.. an original Mississippi chain?

Post by Cajungenes »

I enjoyed reading this post. I grew up in Indianola, my family were friends of the Lewis family, in fact Morris Lewis III used to do hand stands in my living room when I was a child. We would ride in their boat, "The Sally Sunflower". :)
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