Melvin and Claris Grace sell their local landmark after 56 yrs. in business

By THOMAS P. WEAVER

Horizon Editor

HERMITAGE SPRINGS-When it comes to local businesses, there’s been one constant here in Hermitage Springs for over a half-century.

And people who frequent the landmark establishment here in the west end of Clay County will tell you it has always been much more than a store.

It serves not only as a hub for local commerce, but also as a community institution where residents gather, which has helped preserve and promote unity among the rural populace.

The place of business currently officially titled with a combination of two names—“Ace Hardware/Payless Food Store,” is better known by one.

Those who know it best call it “Melvin’s,” and despite Melvin and Claris Grace passing the torch they’ve carried since 1967 to new owners, it most likely will carry that designation forever.

“We’ve been at it, before we sold this, 56 years, six months, and two week’s,” Melvin said.  “We’ve been in business in Hermitage Springs that long, here and up at the old store.

“I’ve had 84 birthdays.  It’s about time to quit.”

Though Melvin and his wife of 63 years officially transferred ownership earlier this summer, quitting is evidently not in their blood.

He and Claris both can still be found daily at what is now a modern-day version of an old country store.

“Yeah, I hate to give it up,” Melvin, who maintains an office at the store with his wife, said with a laugh when asked if he had enjoyed his life’s work.  “That’s the reason I still come down every day and help out.

“(I) volunteer free labor!”

“It means a whole lot to us,” Claris said.  “We were Mr. and Ms. Hermitage Springs when we were in high school, and I reckon we have tried to uphold that all these years.

“We want to see it go on,” she said, before her husband took that a step further.

“And if it will grow, it would be even better,” Melvin added.  “We think it will.”

The Graces said they hope the community will continue to support the new owners, who they have entrusted to carry on what they started.

“I encourage them to support everything in the community,” Melvin said to the people of Hermitage Springs.  “A man and his sister bought it, and this is the ninth store they own.

“He’s been in business in Red Boiling and Lafayette for years.  He is a pretty nice feller, got a good reputation, and he’s going to keep it all like it is, I reckon—that’s his plan anyway,” Melvin continued.  “He wants us to stay here and kinda help him see after it.

“I told him we would stay awhile, you know.”

Melvin said he and Claris decided “about two or three years ago they were going to get out of everything.”

The store here was one of the last they sold of a business empire extending south towards Chattanooga and north across the Kentucky line, which all started when they bought their first store located beside the entrance to Hermitage Springs park at auction almost 60 years ago.

“We bought it at auction for $5,600,” Melvin said of his initial venture.  “It and four acres of ground.

“We opened up December 15, 1967.”

The Graces’ business expanded from there.

“At one time we had a store in Dunlap, Spencer, Red Bank, Little Valley in Hamilton County, Cleveland, Edmonton (KY), Scottsville (KY), Carthage, here, and Lafayette,” Melvin said.  “Those were all Save-A-Lots, then we got in the Ace Hardware business.

“We just decided to every so often get rid of something, and the only thing we’ve got left is Carthage Ace Hardware.  Got rid of the rest.  Gave them to the kids, grandkids, or sold them one.”

The Graces saw a lot change over their retail careers and they changed with the times, moving from grocery to hardware where needed, while keeping both in other locations.

“Listen to the customers,” Melvin said of their secret to success.  “Try to be competitive, and keep what they wanted, and listen to them.

“And try to do what they expect you to do.”

Both Graces deflected when suggestions were made about the positive influence they had on the success of the business and the community, though they have always been beloved by their customers.

“Well, it’s held together,” Melvin replied when asked if he agreed his store helped hold Hermitage Springs together over the years.  “I don’t know whether we helped or not.

“The community has kept it together.  It’s been good,” he humbly said, before steering the conversation as far away as possible from taking any personal credit.  “It saved them from having to go to Gamaliel or Tompkinsville to get odds and ends.”

In general-store fashion of times gone by, the Graces have always offered a little bit of everything.

But like many country stores of yesteryear, they are famously known for their old-fashioned, cold-cut sandwiches.

“Yeah, a lot of them gather up here, talking, carrying on, and buy the sandwiches,” Melvin said when questioned about what his store means to the community.  “They eat and get educated.”

For a grand total of $3.15, including tax, a customer could walk away with a bologna sandwich, chips, and a can drink.

“Same price you could get one 20 year ago (sic),” Melvin said.  “We ain’t making much money on that—still making a profit on them, but not like it used to be.

“A lot of people come in at lunchtime and we have a big crowd most of the time at lunchtime, and they will buy something else,” he said.  “If they didn’t buy that sandwich, they wouldn’t probably.

“We sold stuff cheaper than most and sold more of it then.”

That’s how the Graces outlasted them all, even though the competition was stiff in the beginning and got even tougher with Dollar General coming to town a few years back.

When Melvin and Claris opened their first store, there were two others in the same general vicinity and four more scattered around the area.

Being no stranger to competitors, they welcomed the corporate retailer with open arms.

“Competition is good for business, you know,” Melvin said.  “The Dollar Store has been good for the community.”

“I think that helps, the more people coming through helps everybody,” Claris said.

With that attitude, changing with the times, and a personal disposition customers are drawn to, the Graces made something out of nothing in Hermitage Springs.

And like most of the businesses they founded, that something—known as “Melvin’s,” soldiers on with somebody else at the helm.

“We’ve enjoyed it,” Claris said.  “We’ve got to meet and talk to a lot of people, and everything.”

“We appreciate everybody,” she said, before Melvin summed up their nearly six-decade journey in business as only he can.

“It’s been good,” he simply stated.  “It’s been real good.”