‘Personal Touch’ Valued At Rockwood Market

Since he was 14, Tim McGee has been in the grocery business.

For 21 of his 51 years, he has worked at the Rockwood Market. He bought it three years ago.

Walking in his little store is like jumping into an old black-and-white TV show. It’s the ‘50s again.

Customers can see the whole place, every aisle, from the front entrance. The sign above the door reads, “Thank you. Have a beautiful forever.”

And there’s McGee, dressed in a green apron and wide tie, greeting everyone by name.

“You can go anywhere for a can of green beans,” McGee says. “When you walk through that door and it’s ‘Hi, Mrs. Jones,’ it’s a whole different ball game.”

McGee isn’t just a grocer there at 315 E. 18th. He’s a neighborhood fixture.

When it’s someone’s birthday, he knows. When there’s a block party, he’s invited.

“How many customers will call you up and say, ‘Here are two tickets to the Cougar game?”’ McGee says.

“They’re not just customers; they’re friends.”

McGee has patrons who have phoned in their orders for 20 years. The market, which opened in 1912, still offers delivery.

The regulars hardly have to order at all.

“One gal always calls the night before,” McGee says. The woman always asks if he knows what she wants.

“I have a pretty good idea,” he tells her. “A gallon of 2 percent … two 46-ounce grapefruit juices, Carnation Instant Breakfast.”

Right he is. McGee remembers those things.

A silver-haired lady walks in. He doesn’t miss a beat.

“You looking for a sandwich, Doris?” Doris Graham always picks up a sandwich when she goes to the hair salon - if McGee doesn’t run one over first. She also has a weakness for those cookies McGee bakes in the small oven beside the cash register.

“I grew up on a ranch in Montana, and the closest store was like 13 miles from our ranch, and it was just a little pop-and-mom store like this,” Graham says, all smiles.

“It’s kind of like going home again.”

It is home to McGee. It’s where he shows up each morning at 5 a.m., where he watches the neighborhood youngsters grow up.

He sees kids go from little babies to delivery boys working at the market to college graduates.

Children take to the place right off.

“Water break!” a high-pitched voice pipes from the door.

“Water break!” echoes another voice.

It’s two round-faced kids coming home from Cataldo School, blue backpacks slung over their shoulders.

“You know where it’s at,” McGee says.

“Yup!” they respond.

The boy and girl get cups, fill them and empty them in a second. They’re gone in a blue blur.

“Thank you!” they holler.

McGee admits his prices can’t compete with those of the big supermarkets.

But his market isn’t about bargains. It’s about what McGee calls “the personal touch.”

You can hear it in his voice when he talks about the 300 turkeys he’ll sell for Thanksgiving. And it’s evident when he shows off his personalized coffee packages from Craven’s like “Rockwood Market Blend” and “Tim’s Own Blend.”

But there’s not much time for showing off. More customers arrive.

The mom wants groceries. Her son wants candy.

Big surprise: McGee knows them, too.

“That’s what keeps me in this business,” he says. “People.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo