New and renewed Food City stores are breaking out all over.
This week we opened a new store in Kimball, Tennessee. Residents were excited and Food City gave $400 each to seven public schools in the area.
Kimball, Tennessee, is a thriving town near the Tennessee-Alabama state line with two exits (152 and 155) off Interstate 24. Dennis Lambert has a history of the town here. (Spoiler alert: It was founded in 1890 and named for Hannibal Ingalls Kimball. His friends called him H.I.)
On January 18, we were in Cleveland, Tennessee, for the grand re-opening of the Food City at Ocoee Crossing. The town’s mayor, Kevin Brooks, posted a photo with these comments:
Food City CEO Steve Smith greets a customer at the Ocoee store.
Check out the bakery at the new Kimball store.
“This week we celebrated the grand re-opening of Food City at Ocoee Crossing.
“What impressed me the most was Food City CEO Steve Smith greeting this customer over on Aisle 7.
“The CEO stepping away from the ceremony to meet and greet this customer spoke volumes about his personal work ethic. I’m still learning.”
That post encouraged a response from a Food City employee who wrote that as a young store manager, “we were covered up” and Steve Smith walked in. He stepped over and started bagging for a young cashier. When the customer walked away, the cashier told him he was very good and asked if he wanted a job. “He just said he’d had a lot of practice.”
Steve Smith’s father, the late Jack Smith, founded the company that became Food City. You’ll find Jack Smith’s picture hanging in the front of our stores with his goal: “To run the best store in town.”
K-VA-T Food Stores began in 1955 when Jack C. Smith, his father Curtis, cousin Ernest, and uncle Earl opened their first Piggly Wiggly in Grundy, Virginia.
On January 24, 2024, Food City opened another new store in Gadsden, Alabama.
Ripley’s Fun Pass
The offer ends March 5, 2024, to purchase Ripley’s Ultimate Fun Pass at your local Food City store. The pass grants unlimited access to 10 Ripley attractions including the Gatlinburg Aquarium. Tickets are $159.99 for adults; $79.99 for children 3-11; and $19.99 for children age 2.
Betsi James is special events manager for Food City’s Knoxville and Chattanooga divisions.