In June of 1938, S. L. Jones opened his grocery store on the corner of Sewanee and Fields Roads in the heart of Boxtown. Over the next thirty years, the Jones family would turn that single store into the first African-American owned grocery chain in Memphis.

The stores were a true family business. Ida Mae and the oldest children worked in the shops. In 1967, S. L. and his son, Rufus, formed a partnership to open Nite N’ Day Store, on Mitchell Road, and the following year Jones Big Star #102, on McLemore Avenue. When S. L. retired in 1986, his oldest daughter, Gladys, moved home from California to work alongside Rufus running the operation.

The Jones Grocery motto, “Trade Where It Pays,” alluded to the growing impact of African-American entrepreneurship in the middle decades of the twentieth-century. And the community saw the stores as local institutions. They “offered more than jobs, they offered opportunity,” said Olga “Jeanie Baby” Wilson Tate, who worked along side her sister at all three stores from 1968 to 1979. It “was a stepping stone that helped fund our college education.”

This collection contains photos, advertising bills, promotional calendars, and newspaper article related to the Jones-owned grocery stores. It also contains testimonials from neighbors and employees regarding the lasting impact of the stores on the Boxtown neighborhood.