There are truths you know and truths which take the circuitous route, leading you down one life path, only to plant you squarely at the intersection of another.
Steve Townsend never wondered if he should follow in Ed Townsend’s footsteps. His late father was a grocer — the founder of Sunflower Food Store in Columbus — and he knew from childhood he would shoulder the family legacy. At age 12, he worked for Push-Up Pops and Coca-Cola. As an adult, he works to continue the tradition his father started.
His son, Clint Townsend, took a less direct route, but in the end, all roads lead home.
Today, Steve Townsend, 60, and Clint Townsend, 27, are business partners, launching a month-long 50th anniversary celebration which pays homage to Sunflower’s past and future.
History lessons
Tuesday morning, they sat in the East Columbus store’s stockroom, surrounded by towering boxes of food, and reminisced about the day five years ago when Clint called his father and said he wanted to work alongside him.
It was a surprise to Steve Townsend. Clint had just completed his bachelor’s degree in accounting at the University of Alabama, and he had planned to attend law school to become a tax attorney. There was only one problem — the future tax attorney wanted to be a grocer.
“After my first tax class, I said, ‘This isn’t very much fun,'” Clint Townsend recalled. “I couldn’t imagine having to sit behind a desk all day.”
A summer stint at the store during his junior year of college had fueled a passion he could no longer ignore. Though he had worked as a stock boy when he was 15, he was now old enough to get involved with purchasing and merchandising. He enjoyed seeking the best values, and he liked visiting with customers.
As he walked the aisles of the store, he heard the echoes of his heritage in the voices of those who knew his grandfather. Every week, he learned something new about the man who started it all. And as time passed, he began to feel his grandfather’s presence and understand what the store had meant to him.
“In a lot of ways, he still walks this store with me,” Clint Townsend said. “Not two weeks go by that someone doesn’t come in and tell me a story about him.”
Survival skills
Many remembered Ed Townsend as a penny-pinching man who worked hard to make his four stores profitable. The first store opened in 1962 on Alabama Street, in the building which is now home to O’Reilly Auto Parts. In 1964, he opened a second store on Military Road. At the height of the growing business, Townsend had the two original stores, along with one in Starkville and another on College Street in Columbus.
In the early 1990s, he closed the Starkville store, and in 2000, he closed the store on College Street.
But even during hard times, Ed Townsend took the brunt of the financial hit, Steve Townsend said.
“When it gets tight, you can’t really cut back on your employees,” he explained. “So my father always cut his and my salary down.”
That’s part of how the company has survived in a crowded market of big box stores, Clint Townsend said.
“There are not two more moral men than my grandfather and father,” he said. “They’ve been fair with the people who worked here and the customers and I think God has blessed them for that.”
Customer service has also played a role. Ed Townsend could remember the names of every customer and vendor, even if he’d only met them once. Now, Steve and Clint Townsend are training their 90 employees in a new initiative: Treat every customer like a guest in their homes.
Clint is innately suited to customer service, Steve Townsend said. Skilled at finessing relationships, Clint has made his dad’s job easier and has rejuvenated his love for the company.
The next generation
Ed Townsend worked at Sunflower until he was 83. Steve Townsend said he might retire in his 70s, but as he leaned back in his chair and pondered the idea, he decided if he feels well, he might continue to age 83, too.
It’s too soon to tell what path the fourth generation will follow. Clint Townsend and his wife, Lauren, have a 19-month-old son, and they are expecting a second child in July.
He said his father didn’t push him to join the family business and he won’t push his children.
“A fourth generation would be awfully special, but it’s too hard and too much pressure if they don’t want to do it,” he said. “Dad was always very hands-off. He wanted us to find our own way.”
As for him, his future is sealed.
“I’d like to be here in 50 years,” Clint Townsend said.
Seated in the chair beside him, his father smiled.
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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Related Photos
Sunflower employees stand in the East Columbus store in this photograph circa the 1960s. The store was founded in 1962 by Ed Townsend. Photo by: Courtesy photo/Townsend family
