Yesterday: Ketner’s Supermarkets team in the early 1950s
Published 12:00 am Monday, October 31, 2016
Tommy Eller and Ronnie Smith provided this photograph and helped in identifying the management team from Ketner’s Supermarkets in the early 1950s. They are, left to right, Glenn Ketner Sr., owner of the grocery chain, which had a store at the corner of West Innes and North Fulton streets; Wilson Smith; Ralph Ketner; Pete Pinion; Charlie Ketner; Nan Martin; Russell Simmerson; O.L. Casey; Brown Ketner; Tommy Eller; and Alfred Hardin. Ketner’s Supermarkets proved to be a forerunner to Food Town (today’s Food Lion) in Salisbury. Wilson Smith (Ronnie’s dad), Ralph Ketner and Brown Ketner went on to found Food Town in 1957, and their first store was in the Ketner Center, owned by Glenn Ketner Sr. Eller and Ronnie Smith are retired employees of Food Lion.