Sadly, We Watch Ukrops Fade Away: The Passing of an Era

This past weekend I was on the telephone with my father who happened to mention that the Harbor Point Ukrops was closing that day. For a long while I have been hearing that this local grocery chain has been sold to the Martin/Giant chain and would be switching over but, somehow, it just was not real to me.

You see, Ukrops has been there all my life. Some of my earliest childhood memories are of my mother taking me on here weekly grocery shopping trip to various Ukrops stores. We lived way out in western Chesterfield County, in the Bethia area. In fact, we lived, and my parents do still live, on Bethia Rd. My mother used to drive all the way to the second Ukrops store, on Hull Street near Warwick Road in Richmond. Later, she shifted her shopping to the newer Ukrops on Midlothian Turnpike in the Sixty West Shopping Center. Then as Ukrops expanded and got closer and closer we went to the Oxbridge Square location back on Hull Street Road. Finally, my mother switched to the Harbor Point Ukrops which was within a mile of our house.

By that time I no longer rode in the fold down toddler seat of her shopping cart. In fact, by the time that location opened I was a paratrooper, stationed in Alaska and married to an Eskimo girl. Ok, the Army left me up there a long time.

After I got out of the Army, and moved back to Chesterfield, I took my little girl shopping at the Harbor Point Ukrops. Ukrops had become a grocery icon of the Richmond area by then.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Ukrops chain let me explain. Ukrops has been around for seventy years, give or take. Founded in 1937 by Joseph Ukrop, it has grown with the suburbs of Richmond. As the suburbs spread out, so did Ukrops. The stores were never open on Sundays and never sold alcohol. I still remember the large pictures of a church building with the caption, "Lets all go to church on Sunday" which hung in every store.

I know many of you may think this was quaint or old fashioned but the Christian business model worked for Joseph Ukrop. His chain of stores grew into a multi million dollar operation. Each store included a well renowned bakery, their distinctive chocolate fudge pies are a requirement for my families Christmas Eve get togethers, a top quality salad bar and, in many stores, a grill where one could get sandwiches mad to order. During my time on the local volunteer rescue squad, we used to heavily frequent the Ukrops grill and, if we did not have time to wait for our dinner, we could always pick up some of their ready made, freshly prepared entrees and side dishes which we could microwave later when the pace settled down. Ukrops also had pharmacies which gained a reputation for looking out for their customers, and formed a partnership with a very community conscious bank. To me, other grocery stores with these features seemed to be just imitating the old master, Ukrops.

Ukrops gained a reputation for supporting many local charities and education programs with everything from monetary or food donations to simply letting local Girl/Boy Scout troops set up to sell cookies or popcorn in front of the stores. In fact, Ukrops made it a point to donate 10% of their gross income back to the community. Richmond's Monument Avenue 10K race, a charitable foot race and one of the top such races in the country, has, for years, been sponsored by Ukrops. My Girl Scout daughter sold many a box of cookies in front of Ukrops and she collected bottled water, for the homeless, there as part of her Gold Award project

It would be fair to say that Ukrops has become a part of the fabric of Richmond, Virginia, even though it has never really spread beyond the Richmond metro area. There were a few attempts with short lived stores in Williamsburg, Fredericksburg and Roanoke but none of these took hold in those areas. Ukrops has been a Richmond Thing.

Late last year we began hearing rumors that the chain was up for sale. Reasons behind this have been unclear. Ukrops appeared to be financially sound and the biggest rumor has been that the Ukrops family is just tired of it. Maybe that is the reason, maybe not but the chain did sell out to Giant-Carlisle and they are busily rebranding the former Ukrops stores with their Martin name. Martin has announced these stores will now be open on Sundays and will sell beer and wine.

When I got that call, from my father, last Saturday I hopped in my truck and headed down to Harbor Point arriving just as the store was closing for the last time. I don't know why but I just wanted to walk in once more. Instead I stood in the parking lot and watched the last customers leave this long time Richmond fixture.

Oh, I didn't get weepy or morose, after all it is just a supermarket, but a part of me was acutely aware that I was seeing the passing of an era here in central Virginia. It reminded me of the closings of Thalhimer's and Miller & Rhoads department stores, two other Richmond icons. Today the local books about the heyday of Richmond always go into details of those two department stores and show pictures of the Tea Room, at Miller & Rhoads, or the Thalhimers Snow Bear. I suppose, in a few years, they will be including Ukrops stores in their days gone by sections.

"All good things come to an end" they say. Farewell Ukrops, we will miss you.