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Ed Allen said he knew nothing about the grocery business when he went to work for a neighborhood market on Hamilton’s east side, but it wasn’t long after that he took over control and began Allen’s Market.
“I didn’t know the difference between a pork chop and a piece of bologna,” Allen said with a chuckle.
Today, Allen’s Market is celebrating 50 years in business and is still going strong.
“I started working here probably at 5 years old bagging ice and I’ve been here 30 years full time,” said Ron Allen, the youngest son of Ed Allen who now runs the business located on the corner of Shuler and Irma avenues with his partner and brother-in-law Adam.
They’ve been partners for more than 25 years since Ed retired.
“I think I’m just naturally a serving type of person,” Ron Allen said. “I enjoy serving people. If I didn’t like it, I wouldn’t have been able to do it this long.”
The business has evolved into more than just a grocery store, however. Allen’s Market does a lot of catering as well.
“We had a good customer come in one day and said he wanted us to cater his daughter’s wedding,” Ron Allen said of how they got started in catering. “I told him we had never done that before, but he said for us to figure it out and then he left, so we were kind of forced into it. But it has really helped us keep things going here.”
Allen’s is also known for its meat trays during the holidays. They make on average about 500 trays at Christmas time, according to Ed Allen, who at 84 years old lives a couple blocks away and still comes in for a few hours every morning.
“It’s a tough racket,” he said. “Seven days a week you have to be here. That’s a lot of pressure, but it is something I have enjoyed. Time has just gone so fast though.”
Ron Allen has enjoyed it as well, and now his 13-year-old son Ron Jr. is working in the store too.
“You have to be in a hurry to serve your customer, but you also need to make them feel at home and that’s what I try to do,” Ron Allen said of the family businesses’ success. “I got trained right.”
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