The neighborhood grocery: Libbie Market

Cecil and Shirlee Maxson pass several grocery stores to get to Libbie Market.

"It's a neat place. I enjoy shopping. It's worth driving in," Shirlee Maxson said.

"Kroger is too big. I walk with a cane. Libbie Market is just the right size."

The Henrico County couple started doing their weekly shopping there about year ago because Libbie Market carried the brand of milk — Richfood — that they wanted.

"Everybody knows your name after a while," Maxson said.

Libbie Market did the catering for her husband's 80th birthday party in October and her birthday party the day after Christmas. "The food is gourmet," she said.

"I can't ever remember the cheese that I like for my sandwiches, but the deli lady knows. … If you ask for something, they will find it for you."

The store, at 400 Libbie Ave., is the former Joe's Market, a specialty store that was part of Ukrop's Super Markets Inc. It was not included in the sale of the chain nearly two years ago to Martin's Food Markets, a division of Dutch conglomerate Ahold NV.

"We carry only certified Angus beef and a little bit of prime but no cuts below certified Angus," said David Taylor, a co-owner and former director of merchandising with Ukrop's.

"We could buy cheaper meats, but that is not what we're about."

Taylor and Buster Wright, also a former employee of Ukrop's, bought the store for an undisclosed price from the Ukrop family.

"It was a wonderful opportunity for two of our people," said James "Jim" E. Ukrop, former chairman of what was once Richmond's leading grocery chain.

"From everything I hear, Libbie Market is becoming an institution in the Westhampton area," Ukrop said.

"Ukrop's was trying to operate it as a specialty store," he said. "David and Buster have made it more of a community market and gathering place."

Taylor agreed.

"We've converted it into an upscale neighborhood market where you can buy your week's worth of groceries," Taylor said.

"The only thing you can't find is a mop and a broom, but you can buy sponges, Tylenol, toiler paper, baby food, brownie mix and chicken noodle soup."

Libbie Market carries, for example, a mainstream pasta brand like Barilla and a gourmet one like Maestro Pastaio, but not six kinds of pasta. Likewise, shoppers can buy baking soda, but only in one size.

"We can't be everything," Taylor said. "We are limited with 12,000 square feet."

The owners say they continually adjust the product mix, according to what customers want. In large chain stores, corporations set the product mix and they don't want it changed, Taylor said.

Libbie Market doesn't always get the lower prices that vendors offer large retailers, but some manufacturers such as Coca-Cola work with small grocers, the owners say.

Taylor and Wright declined to talk about financial results but acknowledged that most companies lose money the first year they are in business.

"Let's put it this way," Taylor said. "After one and one-half years, we were able to pay our first bonuses to our associates."

The store employs 62 full- and part-time employees, including three butchers and five chefs with culinary degrees.

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Wright, the president of Libbie Market, brought the business side of running a company to the venture. Taylor, vice president and general manager, brought the daily know-how.

"My background is sales and marketing; David's is operations," Wright said.

"I had my own company (at one time), so I knew what I was getting into — well, I thought I knew what I was getting into," said Wright, the market's majority owner.

Wright was in the food brokerage business working for 30 years at a company his father started. He joined Ukrop's in 2003 in the purchasing department.

"There's a lot of satisfaction owning your own company," Wright, 65, said.

"For me, it's the American dream — being your own boss," Taylor, 53, said. "I'm working as hard as ever but having more fun."

Taylor went to work for Ukrop's in 1972, starting as a porter — emptying the trash, sweeping the floors — before being promoted to bagger and working his way up the retail and corporate line. "I grew up with Ukrop's," he said.

"I went to school with David's father," Ukrop said of Richard Taylor, who worked at Ukrop's for 61 years and is helping at Libbie Market. "We grew up together."

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Wright and Taylor adopted the Ukrop's high level of customer service, stepped it up a notch and created their niche.

"There's not a day that goes by where we aren't asked to get something," Taylor said. "If we can get it, we will get it."

One goal is to offer the freshest products possible, he said. Prepared foods are cooked daily. About 300 sandwiches are made to order daily.

Libbie Market's freshly squeezed orange juice, which is sometimes sweet and sometimes a little more tart, is worth the trip alone, customers say.

"We can't hang our hat on local products like Ellwood Thompson's," Taylor said of the natural-foods store near Carytown. "We want the freshest and best produce available. It might be local and might not be."

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The heartbeat of the store is in the center, where prepared foods are made to order or made from scratch.

Libbie Market chefs prepare breakfast, lunch and dinner six days a week and brunch and dinner on Sundays.

Beer and wine are sold with an emphasis on gourmet and specialty items, like Hardywood Reserve Series Gingerbread Stout, which sold out Christmas Eve.

Seasonal products include Hanover County tomatoes and figs from a local grower and peonies from a farm in Goochland County. The store carries spices and seasonings from Richmond-based C.F. Sauer Co., coffee from Carytown Coffee & Tea, and pasta sauce from Joe's Inn, a Richmond eatery.

Simply Delicious desserts are made by two sisters in Richmond, and the store makes chocolate fudge cake from scratch.

Moorenko's ice cream, made by a family-owned business in Northern Virginia, outsells Haagen-Dazs and Ben & Jerry's, the owners say. And Crane Crest Real French Dressing, which costs $9.49 for a 16-ounce jar, outsells other dressings for half the price.

"The staff is very friendly," Tim McCaffery said as he poured a large glass of iced tea, another big seller at the store.

Being small allows the owners to be flexible. "What makes this store is the customer," Taylor said.

Lawrence E. Chavis drives daily from his home in southern Chesterfield County to eat breakfast, lunch and/or dinner at Libbie Market.

"The cuisine at Libbie Market is awesome. If I eat there, it's got to be," Chavis said. "I am very picky."

He recommends the barbecue ribs, fried fish, short ribs, cabbage, string beans, macaroni and cheese, shrimp and grits and the oatmeal.

"Sometimes they put raisins in the oatmeal, sometimes cranberries. And the sausage is homemade."

He sometimes mixes up his meal choices with a lunch box from Sally Bell's Kitchen on West Grace Street near Virginia Commonwealth University.

"I'm retired and I go to Richmond to eat and to go to church." His church is in Church Hill, not exactly close to Libbie Market in Richmond's West End.

"I want a good meal," Chavis said. "It's more than just the food. The employees are very cordial, and the managers are very visible. They always ask if the food is good."

When Chavis broke his leg in May and couldn't make it to the store, a Libbie Market employee drove to his house and dropped off a few homemade meals — free of charge. "They missed me," he said.