3 minute read
Conner’s Supermarket: Now in third generation, Buxton store carries everything from ‘PBR to caviar
Conner’s Supermarket: Now in third generation,
Buxton store carries everything from ‘PBR to caviar’
by Mary Helen Goodloe-Murphy mhgm@thecoastlandtimes.com
The Conner family has been selling groceries, sandwiches, drinks and coffee on Hatteras Island for 61 years.
In the fall of 1959, Bernice and John Conner Sr. along with son John “Johnny” Jr. and daughter Merian moved from Windsor to the northern tip of Hatteras Island. The new business was operating Pea Island Campground Store. The store – a concession leased from the National Park Service – sold Bernice’s sandwiches and drinks to folks waiting for the ferry and to fishermen at the campground.
Johnny Conner was 10 years old when
his family moved to Hatteras Island. He spent his time with the Coast Guardsmen from the Oregon Inlet station and folks running the ferry. He and his family lived above the store in an apartment with run ning water. Electric power came from a generator.
The campground was “not a check-in, check-out deal,” says Conner. Campers found a place and settled down.
A year later, in October 1960, the Conner family was visiting Chicamacomico. A call came from the Oregon Inlet Coast Guard Station. The store was on fire. The Conner family raced back to watch their business destroyed. At the time, only the Hatteras village fire department existed.
After the fire, John Conner Sr. worked at the Rodanthe Pier and Motel while his family lived in a trailer parked in the motel parking lot.
To Buxton the family journeyed. John Conner Sr. rented the Buxton Shopping Center from Mr. and Mrs. E.P. White. The business, originally operated by George Fuller and Edgar Hooper, was beside Ormand’s Clothing Store. An art studio now occupies the building.
In the mid-1960s, the family built its first store on the current site. A 2,000 square foot concrete block building housed the new business, Conner’s Independent Neighborhood Store.
In 1970, newly married Johnny Conner brought his bride Rauna home to Buxton and into a partnership in the grocery busi ness with John Sr. and Bernice. Johnny’s return established a family tradition.
In 1975, the store was renamed Conner’s Cape Hatteras Supermarket and a new 5,000 square foot metal building was built, alongside the concrete block building. In that building, John Sr. made fishing lures under the name Conner Lead (as in sinkers) and Lures. Those lures are still available at Conner’s Cape Hatteras Supermarket.
The business grew. Johnny and Rauna became sole owners of the supermarket in
1981. A couple of years later, the concrete building was purchased and the last sec tion of the main store was added. In 2006, a new storage building was added to the site.
In 1994, the family tradition continued. Johnny and Rauna’s oldest daughter Angela and her husband Neil Tawes moved home to Buxton to run the business. Daughter Rebecca followed in 2002. Rebecca’s husband Travis Salyers joined the staff in 2007.
The store is open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., seven days a week. The address is 47468 NC 12 in Buxton.
“Today, the Conner’s Supermarket tra dition started by John and Bernice Conner is now in operation by the third generation of the Conner family. It is an honor to carry on what our grandparents started,” says the store’s website. “We work hard to stay on top of trends in the grocery world while continuing to carry all your old favorites. We love to partner with local vendors and strive to carry the best local produce and North Carolina made products. From the everyday to gourmet, PBR to caviar, you can find it all at Conner’s Supermarket!”
