Ukrop's-Free Richmond?

As far as I could tell, my grandmother had one claim to fame and it was that, once upon a time, she lived across the street from the Ukrop family.

This was in the early-to-mid-‘50s, when the couple across the street owned one, lone grocery store on Hull Street, just around the corner from their South Richmond home.

Knowing my grandmother, she was too busy raising seven kids to interact much with the neighbors, but that didn’t stop her from exploiting the contact. This was years later, in the ‘70s, after my grandparents had left and then returned to Richmond. By then Ukrop’s was well on its way to being a full-fledged local chain, and source of much local pride.

As Ukrop’s grew over the next two decades so did my grandmother’s boldness. When any of her children (and then grandchildren) needed a job, she would march herself into her local store (Oxbridge Square), demand to see the manager, explain her connection to the family, and then force the manager to hire her offspring.

I’m not sure how it worked, all I know is that one minute I was a 16-year-old trying to wrench out of my grandmother’s grip as she berated a store manager, the next I was at K-Mart picking out khaki pants and a crisp, white button-down shirt. (Full Disclosure: I think there was an application and interview in there somewhere.)

And so, like many Richmonders (and many of my cousins, aunts and uncles), I began my working life as a courtesy clerk for Ukrop's Super Market, Inc. Working at Ukrop’s, like shopping there, is sort of a rite of passage for many Richmonders … and one that may be in jeopardy, according to the rumor mill and every major (and minor) news outlet in town.

The possibility of a Ukrop’s sale, however far-fetched or contrived, has Richmonders up-in-arms, but not nearly in the way I expected. The rumor is juicy gossip, to be sure, but I always expected that the threat of a Ukrop’s-Free Richmond would be met with protests.

I imagined grandmothers, soccer moms and that mythical Old Richmond Money crowd, arms linked, chained in front of a store, chanting "Hell No, We Won’t Let You Go."

Instead, it seems like every other Richmonder was a closet Ukrop’s Hater. Where did that come from?

Are their prices higher than other grocery chains? Maybe. Is not shopping there on Sunday inconvenient? Absolutely. Does it make me uncomfortable to have a 90 pound, 300-year-old-man huff up a hill with my groceries? Every summer. Has the customer service been lacking in recent years? It seems to depend on the store. Does it suck that I can’t buy beer, wine and the latest issue of "Cosmopolitan Magazine" while I’m shopping there? Since I was old enough to buy any of the above.

But what about the good stuff?

I think it’s safe to say that over the years there has been plenty of good stuff.

I can’t think of a single Richmond event or cause that doesn’t have a Ukrop’s sponsorship attached to it somewhere. I don’t know the details, but I don’t think those things pay for themselves. Throughout its history, Ukrop’s has given back to its community, which is us, just Richmond. It has no other community. As Ukrop’s has grown and become more profitable, Richmond, our city, has reaped the benefits.

I hear Harris Teeter is fabulous (and Wegmans is even better), but those aren’t our stores and we’re not their hometown.

And hasn’t Ukrop’s always been a point of pride for Richmonders? Regardless of whether or not you shop there, there’s a certain joy and a swell of … well, pride, that comes with showing an out-of-towner a Ukrop’s for the first time. We get to say, this is ours, it’s Richmond’s. We get to say that in this era of international chains, where you can eat at the same restaurants and buy your clothes from the same stores, whether you’re in Montana or Virginia, it’s only here that you can shop at a Ukrop’s.

Then, of course, there are the jobs. Ukrop’s is a coveted job for Richmond’s students, and rightly so. When I worked there, students were allowed to cut back on their hours during finals and take off with little notice for sports and school functions. The stores expected its students to abandon them on prom night and arrangements were made. But never, in my experience in three different Ukrop’s stores, were students expected to sacrifice their studies or extra-curricular activities for their part-time job. Work-life balance for all workers was all a part of Ukrop’s being a good steward of their community.

Ukrop’s treated their employees well. After all, we were Richmonders and future shoppers.

I’m trying to imagine Richmond without Ukrop’s and I just can’t. I don’t want to.

What would summer be without brown bags of Ukrop’s peaches or giant tubs of corn husks or the smell of fried chicken in a parking lot? What about winter, without the Ukrop’s Christmas Parade? Thanksgiving without White House Rolls? Spring picnics without Ukrop’s Chicken Salad (nothing will convince me that crack is not an ingredient)?

Take a moment and imagine, if you will, that you will never, ever have another birthday with a Ukrop’s cake. Can you even get cake anywhere else in this town?

Do you really want to live in city where kids can’t get free Rainbow Cookies just for being kids? I sure don’t.

Karri Peifer is a Richmond.com staff writer. The opinions she expresses so freely are hers; not those of Richmond.com or anyone affiliated with it. Or, really, of anyone who knows her.