Customer count up at Glen Allen Supermarket

David Fitzgerald stops by the Glen Allen Supermarket nearly every afternoon to grab a cup of coffee.

"Everyone there is very friendly," the Henrico County resident said. "They know most everybody that comes in. If they don't know you on your first trip, they will know you the next time."

Rhonda Abernathy and her husband, Jeffrey, bought the store in May 2008 from 79-year-old Emmett Allen when he decided to retire. His father, E.L. Allen, started the business in 1925 as a general store.

"It evolved into a grocery store," said Allen, who took it over in 1952. In 1963, he decided to add a larger selection of merchandise and moved across the street to the store's current location at 3007 Mountain Road.

The Abernathys, who had worked for the construction industry, wanted to buy the store so they could maintain its neighborhood feel.

"We both grew up in Glen Allen," Rhonda Abernathy said. "My father owns the service station next door, and this was where my mom did her shopping. When I was young, I would ride my bike up here."

Since the Abernathys bought the store, Jon Parks spends more time at the market.

"Before we bought our groceries and came home," he said. "Since Rhonda bought the store, it has become a warmer place. Now there are people hanging around and drinking coffee. It has become like an old general store to this community. The only thing that is missing is the potbelly stove."

Rhonda Abernathy has initiated several changes to the store, including adding new products, more local produce, prepared foods and freshly brewed Rostov's coffee.

"We want to carry more Virginia-made products," she said.

The store also carries Gunther's Gourmet, a local line of marinades and salsas, and cakes from Michaela's Quality Bakeshop, including the Thalhimers department store famous six-layer cake.

The supermarket's nostalgic merchandise also includes old-fashioned Christmas candy and sodas, such as Nehi and Cheerwine in glass bottles. It carries honey made by Robert Stapleton, who lives a few blocks from the store.

"Our goal is to have people that live around here and haven't shopped here [to] peek in," Abernathy said. "We want to be a small, friendly neighborhood store."

Two months ago, Abernathy hired butcher Tammy Oley, who had worked at Stonewall Market in Richmond before it closed in June.

Oley is making some of the same prepared salads and meals as she did at Stonewall Market. Her selections include meatloaf and shepherd's pie.

In addition, she is adding choices in the meat section, including chicken breast stuffed with cheese and spinach and beef tenderloins and turkeys cooked to order.

"All of our beef is high-end choice-certified Angus beef," Abernathy said.

Abernathy hopes to draw in working couples who don't have a lot of time to shop but need something quick for dinner.

"They can come in and get something fast and easy," she said. "We don't have the buying capacity to get rock-bottom prices, but our prices are competitive."

This year, the market will sell prepared Thanksgiving dinners.

Martha Dabney of Richmond had bought her Thanksgiving meals from Stonewall Market every year for the past few years. She recently ordered this year's prepared dinner from Glen Allen Supermarket.

Dabney had never shopped at Glen Allen before Oley was hired. Now she makes regular visits.

"I liked the prepared foods and the meats," she said. "There is no comparison in the meats. They have brought in the top of the line. You can get all your groceries here, as well. I really like the market. It's worth the drive."

The Abernathys have seen their customer count at the store increase about 20 percent during the past 12 months.

"We have about 6,000 customers a month," Jeffrey Abernathy said. "Our third-quarter revenues are up about 18 percent over last year at that time."

Shawn Maxwell, one of the store's regular customers, likes how the Abernathys have brightened up the store to make it more open and inviting.

"This was a good fit for Rhonda," he said. "It's a good fit for the community as well."