Meat Manager Maria Collins and Assistant Manager Scott Conner on the County Market in Tilton.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is sixth in our 12-story road-trip collection trying on the folks and locations alongside Illinois 1 — from Watseka to Paris.
TILTON — When County Market opened 13 years in the past within the former Eagle grocery retailer alongside Illinois 1/Georgetown Road, Assistant Manager Scott Conner mentioned the road of consumers wound all the way in which across the constructing.
The village, with a present inhabitants of about 2,500, had been with no grocery retailer for quite a lot of years.
Today, there stays a reciprocal appreciation between the shoppers who’re grateful for the handy grocery retailer with pleasant employees and retailer staff who welcome prospects who really feel like household.
County Market had been owned by Covington Foods and was taken over by Neimann Foods in 2016.
About half of the staff on the Tilton retailer got here from the previous County Market retailer that closed and have become a Sav-A-Lot in Danville’s Towne Centre. Other staff got here from the County Market on North Vermilion Street in Danville and a pair got here from a retailer in Attica, Ind., Conner mentioned.
Conner, from Danville and now dwelling in Catlin, began working on the IGA in Covington, Ind., when he was 17 years previous as he completed highschool.
He had labored on the Deluxe Restaurant in Danville however needed to do one thing else. He didn’t need to cook dinner or wait tables.
“My mom and dad were in retail all their lives,” he mentioned. “My dad was a meat cutter. My mom worked at Towne Centre.
“They’re like, ‘Don’t do it,’ and I was like, ‘I’m going to do it,” Conner mentioned with amusing about pursuing a profession at a grocery retailer.
County Market is a serious enterprise alongside Illinois 1 in Tilton.
He went to the Catlin IGA, which has additionally since closed. He helped open the North Vermilion Street County Market within the late Nineties and labored there a pair years.
He went to Towne Centre’s County Market and labored there for about 12 years as dairy and frozen supervisor.
When the Tilton retailer was opening, he interviewed with Manager Pat Calton and was given the grocery supervisor job, overseeing the grocery, dairy and frozen departments.
“Here we are,” he mentioned with amusing. “It’s been over 30 years.”
The Tilton County Market has about 80-90 staff.
Conner’s day by day duties revolve round dairy and frozen meals objects.
“I make sure that the (refrigerated) bunkers and stuff are filled … make sure it’s nicely phased,” he mentioned.
The different half of his day is spent checking on the grocery shows and with prospects.
“Our customers like to talk,” he mentioned.
Customer Gary Claywell procuring on the Tilton County Market.
During the interview course of, potential staff, together with native highschool college students, are advised that speaking with prospects is necessary to customer support.
Customers “want to talk about the weather and all of their dogs and their cats,” Conner mentioned. “We don’t complain. It’s part of our job. It’s customer service to us.”
If wanted, prospects obtain help in bagging their groceries.
The retailer additionally works with native college, sports activities, cheerleading and different teams a pair Saturdays a month to permit them to bag groceries for donations.
The Westville Lion’s Club sells raffle tickets weekly, and different teams additionally arrange tables, comparable to Girl Scouts promoting cookies.
“We try our best,” Conner mentioned about supporting the neighborhood.
The retailer additionally helps with meals donations to shelters and Danville Township’s Food Pantry.
Having an area grocery retailer means loads to residents.
“We did not know what an impact this store was going to have when we opened,” he mentioned. “Until our grand opening and that line (of customers) went all the way down the middle (of the parking lot) and then it wrapped around. I remember standing in here going ‘Oh, my gosh.’”
Conner mentioned prospects nonetheless inform him they attempt to store as a lot as they’ll on the retailer so it by no means goes away.
“Business is good,” he mentioned, including prospects consistently inform him they like procuring there as a result of the staff are good they usually joke with prospects.
The shopping-cart space on the entrance of the shop can also be its seasonal show space, and Conner mentioned prospects know that when the calendar hits August they’ll begin placing elements for chili on the market.
During the summer season, the show consists of charcoal, baked beans and different cookout objects.
“They love it when it’s the seasonal items,” he mentioned, including that prospects allow them to know after they need to begin in search of these objects. “We try to stay ahead of seasons.”
He mentioned this 12 months, prospects advised him it was too scorching outdoors in August for chili.
County Market within the Southgate Plaza procuring middle in Tilton.
The Illinois 1 location means the shop will get loads of prospects from Indiana, vacationers on the town for occasions just like the annual NJCAA basketball event at Danville Area Community College and soccer tailgaters, along with native residents.
“It’s the perfect spot for a store,” he mentioned. “We didn’t realize it until we opened.”
He mentioned it’s a tight-knit neighborhood and the shoppers and staff turn out to be like household.
Conner mentioned prospects will quiz him when he’s gone, comparable to for trip.
The retailer beforehand was open 24 hours a day, however the COVID-19 pandemic halted that.
When they reopened, they began closing at 11 p.m. Now, hours are 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Conner mentioned the sooner closing instances initially allowed them to inventory again up.
“Because of COVID, there are still items that we’ve lost,” he mentioned.
Conner mentioned one he simply obtained requested about not too long ago was a turkey roast in a field “that people our age grew up on. You put it in the oven and that was a meal. It was in a little turkey roast. Ever since COVID, it never came back.”
Conner added that they’re excited similar to everybody else about financial growth in Tilton, together with the addition of Culver’s.
Mayor Billy Wear mentioned he recurrently outlets at County Market and communicates with employees about what’s occurring locally.
Meat Manager Maria Collins of Georgetown, a 33-year County Market worker, mentioned the most effective components of her job are her co-workers and the shoppers.
“My regulars, I love them to death,” Collins mentioned. “It’s almost like you know them outside the store.”
She mentioned her co-workers cheer one another up if somebody is having a nasty day, razz one another and make one another snicker.