Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

New grocery store owner happy with community response

Ron Rehkopf, co-owner of Rehkopf's Hometown Market in Gurdon, told Rotarians Thursday he has been happy with the public reception since the grocery store opened, just before Memorial Day.

"We are negotiating to add a Subway Sandwich shop and hope to have it by September," he added.

"We have probably hired our 17 to 20 employees for the Gurdon store, but we will need a few more when Subway gets here. We've hired all local people."

He said Jan Young, the store manager, is new to Rehkopf's, but is a Hope resident who plans to move to Gurdon.

"We are planning a grand opening sometime in July, with prizes and more," he said.

"We have a totally new front end system and the refrigeration is all new. We are still making improvements and this will be an even nicer store. We opened a little sooner than we wanted to, but there were so many requests from the community and it seemed like the best thing to do.

"Since we do this work ourselves, it would have been sometime in July if we had not done it when we did."

Rehkopf said some of the meat casings were kept, even though all of the refrigeration is new. Installation, he said did not present any problems.

"The only thing we ran into was a new employee problem. We had someone flip off a breaker and ruin a lot of Yarnell ice cream,' he told the Rotarians.

The store hours are from 7 a.m. until 9 p.m., seven days a week. Rehkopf said they may start opening at 8 a.m. on Sundays.

"We will close for Christmas and maybe for Thanksgiving," he said.

He noted that Affiliated Southwest is the store's main supplier.

"They are in Little Rock and in five states. The state can be proud of this Arkansas-based company."

Rehkopf told Rotarians his store is owned by he and his brother, Terry, and is the ninth that Ron Rehkopf has opened since 1980.

"We are getting ready to open a 10th at Texarkana, which is our home-base town. This latest one will open on July 1."

Rehkopf started his talk by telling the group he just returned from a National Groceries Store session in Washington, D.C.

"I sure was glad to get home," he said. "It makes me appreciate the lifestyle we have in this part of the country."

Rehkopf said he is a third generation grocery store owner.

"My grandfather started one before the depression, lost it in the depression and then started it back up with the country came out of that depression," he said. "My father got in the grocery business and worked it from 1948 until 1973.

"I bought my first one in 1980, after coming back from the corporate world."

Rehkopf said his brother, Terry, had been working for the railroad in 1989, and did not want to accept a transfer of location. So the brothers decided to buy another grocery and let Terry run it.

"We do not have a big corporate crew. Terry and I, and another family member, do a lot of the work ourselves," he said. "But when our 10th store is up and running, that should put us having more than 250 employees."

Rehkopf said his first store is in Texarkana, down from the high school.

"My education in the grocery business went way beyond what you learn in college," he said. "In the 25 years so far, I have learned a great deal from the school of hard knocks."

Rehkopf said his first grocery was 5,400 square feet, while his largest one now is 24,000 square feet.

He gave examples of his rural grocery store establishments in Queen City, Cook, and Naples, Texas.

"Our store in Mt. Pleasant is 70 percent Hispanic. We sell cow's heads, goats and more. It's all government inspected."

The store owner said the choice of items to eat for Hispanics and Asians is similar, whereas the choices for whites and African Americans are also similar.

"We won't have cow's heads here," he said, "Unless the Hispanic population requests them."

Rehkopf said several of his stores sell gasoline. Some is sold under Shell, some independent and the new store at Texarkana will be selling gasoline under Citgo.

He said there are several tobacco shops that go with his stores as well.

"Our big plans for improvement here are about opening the Subway," he said.

"There is a timetable involved. Before we get our Subway, we have to be disclosed by the government."

The step after that will be to sign the franchise agreement. Between 14-18 days after the signing, the clock starts ticking to open the Subway within about 90 days.

"It will be in the corner of the store, where the old fry deli was," he said. "Once we get through the time-table, Subway is very efficient."

Rehkopf said his company loves neighborhood markets and "we feel we do a good job in them."

He noted his stores are competitively priced in meats and produce. "Some items are higher, some are cheaper. We believe in advertising to let you know. We just added Gurdon to our list of circulars," Rehkopf said.

In regard to community service, Rehkopf said the Rehkopf's Hometown Market "will do our best to be good partners here."

"We especially want to support school or church programs," he said. "Requests must be in writing, even if it is just on a napkin. We are not able to help everybody every time. But by having the requests in writing, we can move the help around."