A local market serving the Rocky Hill community since 1990
By Tom Butler
Good afternoon from Butler & Bailey Market, located in the quiet little village of Rocky Hill. I hope everyone is having a good week. The ball team finally won a big game which is good. A win helps the economy a lot more than a loss or in more simple terms, we sell a lot more groceries. I would say most people who have a business in Knoxville would agree. Next up is Alabama… make sure you buy all your groceries before that game.
Now that the holiday season is upon us, I have a couple of dates you may want to mark on your calendars.
The first is Saturday, November 21st. This is when we are having our holiday open house event here at the store. This event gets larger and larger every year and hopefully this will be our most successful ever. We will be sampling holiday foods from main courses, to side items, and even desserts. Barbara Tenney will be here sharing some of her favorite recipes, and we will have several other local companies sampling their products as well. Everyone seems to really enjoy this event and best of all it is free to you. I hope you will set aside some time on that day to come by and see us. I will be giving you more details as the event gets closer.
The second date I want you to mark on your calendar is December 5th. This is the date for the second annual Rocky Hill Christmas Parade. Last year was a huge success, and I bet this year will be even bigger. Everyone I have talked to that was at the parade last year had a great time so if you missed the last one make sure you don’t miss it again. The parade is put on by the Rocky Hill Business Association to show our appreciation for the support that you, the community, have given all of our businesses.
I’m excited about these upcoming events and I hope you are too!
I am trying to get one more event planned before Christmas that I think you will be interested in. I do not have it nailed down yet so I will wait to give you the details on that one until I can confirm it.
The publisher for the Knoxville Mercury newspaper came by the store the other day. This paper used to be called Metropulse but now has a new name. Anyways, he came by to inform us that we placed second for “best local grocery store” in their upcoming reader’s poll edition. The winner was Three Rivers Market which is the food co-op on the corner of Central and Baxter avenues. They have a cool store and have played a big part in the revitalization of that part of town. The store actually sits right where a Cas Walkers grocery store used to sit many years ago. I have a lot of memories of that area because if you walked one block up Baxter Avenue from that store, you would be standing in front of the house my mother grew up in.
I don’t remember going to the Cas Walker’s when I stayed with my grandparents, but I can vividly remember holding my grandfathers hand and walking over to Sears which was on the other corner of Baxter and Central. As a little boy, I loved to go to stores, especially Sears, so I am sure my grandfather would walk me over there just to appease me, or maybe we were both just trying to escape the wrath of my grandmother. He was a kind, gentle person, my grandmother, not so much. He had learned to stay quiet and out of her way, and I was astute enough to follow his lead. My brother, who got the strong lawyer gene, was known to back talk her which would get him a good scolding and my mom probably got one too when she picked us up after our stay.
I guess I have mostly good memories of my visits over there. I do remember being made to sit at the table and eat what my grandmother fixed, even if I didn’t like it. I also remember suffering through the Lawrence Welk show on Saturday nights and if a Billy Graham crusade was on television, everyone had to stop what they were doing and watch. I didn’t like it then but ever since, if Billy Graham comes on, I stop and watch. It’s funny what sticks with you.
Well I got a little off topic but if you haven’t been over to “happy holler” in a while, I would take the time to go see all the changes that area has made. You should also stop in to Three Rivers Market and congratulate them for winning the award and supporting their community.
I am not sure how many local grocery stores are left in Knoxville so I don’t know if coming in second place is good or if we actually came in last out of two? It’s probably a win that both of our stores have stayed in business with so much competition.
I do want to get us off to a good start for the coming year’s competition so why don’t we have a beef tenderloin sale. Starting this Thursday, October the 15th, 2015 whole beef tenderloin will be $11.49 a pound. The sale will end on Sunday October the 18th, 2015. I would take advantage of this price because who knows what is going to happen to beef prices as the holidays get closer.
The quiet little village of Rocky Hill is getting ready to make some noise with the upcoming holiday events. Maybe a beef tenderloin sale will even make a little noise? I hope you will be able to join us for all of these events!
And, as for Three Rivers Market, that object in your rear view mirror is a local grocery store in Rocky Hill coming for you.
Have a great weekend!
Thanks for letting us be a part of your community,
Tom Butler
Respond to:tom.butler44@gmail.com
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Butler and Bailey Market
7513 Northshore Dr.
Knoxville, TN 37919
(865)691-8881