Marking 25 Years As Waitsburg’s Grocery Man

WAITSBURG - Half a lifetime ago, Danny Cole made a gutsy move.

He was only 25 when he got the help of two silent partners, his dad Ken and Bob Jamison, to buy the grocery store from Jim and Joan Helm.

It was called Jim's Market and it needed a big investment in new inventory, new produce coolers and a bank of walk-in freezers that would be so big Cole feared he might have trouble filling it.

"We jumped in with both feet and took off running," he said.

A quarter century later, Cole is celebrating 25 years as owner of the Waitsburg Grocery Store, only a few months after his 50th birthday.

"I wouldn't change anything," Cole said. "It's been awesome. It's gone by pretty fast."

Since that fateful day - June 13 - when he signed the paperwork and became a full-fledged entrepreneur, the store has only been closed once. It was in the very beginning, when the freezers were installed with permission from the landlord, the Masonic Temple.

Not even for the '96 flood did the community crossroads at Main and Second button up - despite a foot and a half of water in the basement. Because the roads were cut off, the shelves inside got a bit bare, but it remained a hangout for residents during the memorable emergency.

"I'll sell groceries in the dark," Cole said about an establishment that's open seven days a week, starting at 5:45 am for residents who like to get their morning coffee. "In fact, I have sold groceries in the dark (during several power outages). As long as we can work the cash machine (using generator) we can do business."

Business at the 4,500-square-foot store has had its ups and downs, but has been good overall. Employees have come and gone, but one has remained loyal all these years - Beryl Witt. Her tenure at the store tops Cole's by some 23 years since she worked for the Helms and one other owner before that.

"It's an easy and fun job," said Witt, now 72. "That's why I stayed here. He (Cole) is a good boss. He has lots of good ideas and he tries to keep his prices low."

Being a boss has its challenges and you might wonder how Cole survives running two other businesses in addition to the grocery store - L.C. Applicators, a spraying business, and Touchet Valley Communications, which provides Internet services. He also owned a construction company, which he closed in 2009 after the market for new homes went south.

But Cole believes he's survived because of the other ventures since it kept him from being completed absorbed by the food mart.

"It's like your second marriage," he said about being a businessman. "There is no rest for people who are selfemployed."

But to Cole and his wife Trina, who is city clerk in Dayton, owning the grocery store isn't just about making a living.

"We love our small town," she said. "We feel blessed and fortunate to be a part of this wonderful community."

A big part, many would say. Cole coached football for 18 years and has made in-kind food donations to almost every single youth group or youth cause in town - from the library to the Matbirds wrestling team.

"Danny is such a motivator," Trina Cole said while watching him raffle prizes during the weekend's fundraiser for the press box and equipment storage shed at Cardinal Field.

"He loves the people and the interaction," she said.

The grocery man himself said he had a serious complaint from a local shopper once - about an item he carried in the store. A mother objected to his sale of cigarette candy for fear that it might encourage kids, including her son, to glorify or pick up the smoking habit.

That's not bad for a store that carries 8,000 items worth about $90,000, Cole reckons. He pulled it right after she approached him about it.

One of the biggest recent milestones for the store is its switch to bar code inventory control, which cut down freight reception and shelving from a whole day to a couple of hours.

"One of the biggest improvements came when we bought those scanners in '07," he said. "And, when we took out the old checkout lanes and built the island so one person could work both tills."

These days, he has a new challenge.

Remember those walk-in freezers he worried about? Well, they're full.

" We're pret ty much jammed in here," he said. "I never thought I would get those filled."