As Ross family members near the end of their stewardship of Granville’s only grocery store, the memories from across almost 50 years of service flow about as quickly as the shelves have emptied.
“People come up to us in the store and shake our hands and ask if they can give us a hug,” said Greg Ross, president, manager and family spokesman. “It makes you feel good to know that people appreciate what you’ve done.”
Ross’ Granville Market at 484 S. Main Street will close at 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 7, and it will reopen under a new family ownership as Lucky’s Market Granville at 8 a.m. on Friday, May 22.
The Ross family decided to sell the store because the siblings who owned it until this week are all at or beyond retirement age. The Saltzman family of Cleveland – fifth-generation operators of Dave’s Markets and Lucky’s Markets in northeastern Ohio and Columbus – announced on March 20 that they had purchased the Granville market.
| Read more: Ross’ Granville Market will become Lucky’s Market Granville in transition from one family to another
To honor the Ross family for their service to the community, the Granville Kiwanis, who organize the annual July 4th celebration, asked the family to be the grand marshals of the parade. They include Mary Glancy, Andy Ross, Gary Ross, Geoff Ross, Greg Ross, Nancy Ross and their mother, Leta Ross.
Those who know the Ross family even slightly know that they are humble people who quietly go about their work and involvement in the community, so Greg Ross chuckled when asked about being talked into being the grand marshals.
“If they can find a wagon big enough to carry us all,” he said with a laugh.
That’s because, once they agreed to do it, they invited the kids and grandkids to join them, said Steve Matheny, executive director of the Granville Area Chamber of Commerce.
“Right now, they have 29 people,” Matheny said. “We’ll have a big trailer.”
There are many reasons to celebrate the Ross family, he said.
“They are pillars of this community,” Matheny said. “They have been perennial sponsors of the Christmas Candlelight Walking Tour, perennial sponsors of the 4th of July festival, and they are involved with virtually every charitable activity in town – on board as sponsors or donors.”
Lesa Miller of Granville, who has been heavily involved in the community for decades through the Granville Recreation District and Kiwanis, has seen from behind the scenes how the Ross family has contributed to the community.
“For me, I saw it beginning in 1993 with the first Wildwood build,” Miller said about a large volunteer effort to assemble the original playground at Wildwood Park on the west side of Granville. “It was the first opportunity that I remember reaching out to them to help sponsor something, and they never hesitated. After that, I saw them pitch in with the second Wildwood build and Kiwanis, and so many community activities.”
It has been comforting to see the Ross’s so visibly involved in the community and the operation of the grocery store, Miller said.
“Greg always takes the lead but his sisters and brothers – you knew it was family-run because they have been so visible,” she said.
| Read more: Ross’ Granville Market and land listed for sale at $6.5 million as longtime owners look to retire
The market’s success was rooted in the Ross family’s attention to their customers’ needs and desires, said Granville Mayor Melissa Hartfield.
“They are quiet, steady people who have served us all these years – and we can be a tough crowd,” she said. “You could go in there and ask them for something special, and a week later it was on the shelves.”
If the customers are demanding, the physical work involved in operating a grocery store is even more demanding, Hartfield said.
“I get it,” she said about their desire to retire. “They have worked hard. It’s probably not an easy business. We see them in the store. They are on their feet all day for long hours.”
Hartfield praised the Ross’s for being good employers who had many longtime employees – including multiple generations of the same families in some cases.
As he took a break from the work involved in selling the store’s remaining inventory and transferring ownership to the Saltzman family, Greg Ross mentioned that an employee recently approached him and shook his hand vigorously.
“He wanted to thank me for giving both him and his mother jobs,” Ross said.
And Ross returned the compliment by saying that his family couldn’t have been successful without such dedicated employees – who were offered the opportunity to continue working there for the Saltzman family.
“I definitely want to thank our employees,” Ross said. “And I want to thank our loyal customers, some of whom come from across the county.”
He is particularly pleased that for several years, those customers have voted Ross’ Granville Market as the best grocery store in Licking County in an annual contest held by the Newark Advocate.
“To win that honor over the big chain stores means a lot,” Ross said.
Another customer stopped him in the store last week to thank him for the kindness the Ross family showed during a particularly difficult time in Granville for many people. It was just before the July 4th weekend in 2012, when a powerful wind storm called a derecho blew through the area on June 29 with wind speeds up to 80 mph.
It knocked out power to more than 1 million Ohioans, some for a week or more, as temperatures soared to as high as 100 degrees. Many people lost all of the food in their refrigerators and freezers, and they had no air conditioning. Running generators 24 hours a day, the Ross family kept food cold, the air conditioning on and the doors open.
“It was so hot that some people came here just to cool off,” Greg Ross said.
And despite many overwhelming challenges, the family and their employees also kept the doors open and took all the precautions to keep customers safe and fed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
For many customers, their memories of the Ross family’s tenure as stewards of the local grocery store will be punctuated by seemingly small, unseen gestures of kindness.
“A man came up to me recently and thanked me for helping his daughter,” Greg Ross said. “The man had come to the door just after we locked it for the night. He was upset because his daughter, who was in preschool, was sick and needed medication.
“I let him in, and he got what he needed,” Ross said. “The cash registers were all locked up already, so I told him to just take the medicine. No charge.”
Being there at the right time and being able to help someone in a moment like that, Ross said, “that makes you feel good.”
Alan Miller writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers. Sign up for The Reporting Project newsletter here.