Brookshire remains Tyler’s no. 1 food market Story By jessica mozo | Photography By todd bennett
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hen customers at his tiny grocery store on Tyler’s downtown square needed help back in the 1920s, Wood T. Brookshire was known for jumping over the counter to assist them. More than 80 years later, that same legendary customer service is the driving force behind Brookshire Grocery Co., which has grown to include 150 stores in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas. “If there’s a trademark we’ve built our reputation on, it’s providing very good service that is friendly and helpful,” says Sam Anderson, director of consumer and community relations for Brookshire Grocery Co. “One of our company mottos is to provide a great 32
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food and shopping experience, and Brookshire makes a sincere attempt to provide customers with clean stores and products they want at a fair price. We refer to our employees as partners and treat them fairly with good wages and benefits, and the opportunity to share ownership in the company.” Brookshire History Brookshire Grocery Co. began in 1928 with a 25-by-100-foot store, and by 1939 the founder owned three stores in Tyler, including the first airconditioned grocery store in East Texas. A warehouse was added in 1953, and the company continued to grow. Today, its 150 stores operate under five banners, most of which are
Brookshire’s Food Stores and Super 1 Foods Stores. There is also one Ole Foods location in Corsicana, Texas, that carries Hispanic foods and one ALPS (Always Low Price Store), a discount store in Nashville, Ark. The all new next-generation grocery store concept FRESH by Brookshire’s opened its very first location in March 2011. “We’re primarily known for our retail outlets, but we also operate several manufacturing facilities in the Tyler area, including a water and juice plant, ice cream plant, dairy plant, bakery plant and ice plant,” Anderson says. “We have two distribution facilities in Tyler, and in the Smith County area we employ approximately 3,000 people.”