The heart of Bald Knob
story by Kayla Macomber
Wright’s Grocery in Bald Knob provides its community with a home away from home. From the time the doors open until they are locked at night, the room is filled with small talk, laughter and friendship.
Ronnie and Sylvia Wright opened the store 46 years ago to help serve local tobacco farmers. There are few tobacco farmers left, but the store has endured. It means much more to the community than just a place to buy gas or snacks.
“This is the heart,” says Ed Henson, a regular customer.
The country store in Franklin County retains its old-time charm. Tabs are kept for regular customers and checks are cashed in the store. Customers help carry out tasks such as putting up groceries, restocking soft drink machines, making coffee and pumping gas for other customers.
“I like the store because I have a routine," Ronnie says. "I do the same things every day."
That routine was disrupted in 2013 when Sylvia had to go into the hospital for more than a week. After she got back home, Ronnie suggested they close the store for good and retire. The folks of Bald Knob were devastated.
“There was people crying, ‘Oh you can’t go, you need to open back up.’ It put a wrench in things,” says another regular customer, Michael Hughes.
“It was worse than weaning a calf when the sign is wrong,” daily customer Joe O’Connell says, referring to almanac predictions.
While the store was closed, Ronnie mowed his property, sat around and grew restless.
“I told him he was going to have to do something or you will have to go to the hospital, too,” Sylvia says.
They reopened after just 13 days.
If the store ever closed, Bald Knob "would be just like a ghost town," says daily visitor Ray Stiver. Customers wouldn't tolerate it, customer Willard "Junior" Meade says.
“If he decides to close again, we are going to take the keys and pay the light bill and stay," he says.
Ronnie watches as his wife Sylvia checks the list of things that they need for their store. "I had to make sure he remembered to write it down," Sylvia says.
Ronnie (second from left) reads his mail while friends, Michael Hughes (left), 66, Doug Estes (second from right), 72, and David Mitchell (right), 71, socialize outside Wright's store.
Sylvia (second from right) checks out a customer while store regular Joe reads the newspaper and Ronnie (right) files a store document. Wright's Grocery is not only a store but also a gathering place for the community, where regular customers make themselves at home.
Customers at the store watch "The Price is Right," which is turned on at the store every day at 11 a.m.
Ronnie Payton (right) and Joe O'Connell give each other a hard time about the differences in their teeth. Ronnie and Joe, who have been customers at the country store since it opened 46 years ago, enjoy drinking free coffee and partaking in small talk at the store.
Ray Stiver, 71, works on his old pick-up truck outside Wright's Grocery in Bald Knob. He spent the entire day visiting with the owners, Ronnie and Sylvia, and other customers at the store.
At the country store many customers are friends and some regulars run up tabs that are taped to the side of the cash register. The store has been a mainstay in the community for almost a half-century.
Ronnie sweeps the porch of his country store just before he and his wife Sylvia close for the day. The couple goes out to eat every night after they close because they are too tired after the day's work to cook.