Inside look: Black-owned shops fill critical grocery need on St. Helena Island

Before bridges came to the sea islands of Beaufort County later followed by big-box supermarkets and convenience store chains, more than a dozen Gullah-Geechee-owned country stores were part of the fabric of St. Helana Island. They were places where islanders could buy essentials like pickles, soft drinks and beer, grits, rice, cigarettes, sliced to order cold cuts and sometimes fresh seafood and vegetables. For those struggling with a problem or financially, residents could also find advice and maybe a small loan to get them through a tough spell.

One-by-one, these welcoming neighborhood institutions gradually disappeared — except for Chaplin’s Grocery, a local landmark that will celebrate 50 years in business this July. For the past couple of years, the unassuming store at 255 Storyteller Road has stood out as the sole remaining Gullah-owned grocery on the entire 64 square-mile island of 10,000 residents. Its singularity is notable in a region with the largest population of Gullah-Geechee residents and landowners in Beaufort County.

“There was no Publix, no Food Lion, no gas station, no nothin,’” Harriet Chaplin says of the grocery landscape when she and her husband, Howard, opened the store in July 1974.

She credits the store’s longevity to her husband’s vision, hard work and a mindset of giving. “We just serve,” Harriet Chaplin says.

While the Chaplins prepare to celebrate a half century of service to the island, a newcomer in the convenience store business is just getting started. Sandra L. Mack, a New Orleans native, recently opened Fountain Island Blue Convenience Store at 1210 Seaside Road in the former Seaside Mini-mart once operated by Samuel Miller, giving the island two Black-owned convenience stores for the first time in years. Mack’s partner in the venture is Columbus Allen, who grew up on St. Helena. The store is a little more than 3 miles to the east of Chaplin’s.

Both stores are tiny dots on the grocery map compared to giants like the new Harris Teeter or Publix. But their off-the-beaten-path locations make them convenient in rural St. Helena where the nearest major grocery store, Walmart on Sea Island Parkway, is 8 miles away. Getting there can be a hardship, especially for those who don’t own or have access to a car. These shops also serve migrant workers who work the area’s tomato and melon fields. Sometimes, those workers show up by the busload. Other times, individuals arrive by bicycle.

Local community action and business groups such as The Gullah Geechee Chamber of Commerce, Community Coalition Action Network of St. Helena and Pan African Family Empowerment and Land Preservation Network also are hailing Mack’s new store and the venerable Chaplin’s for continuing a long-tradition of Black-owned entrepreneurship dating to the Civil War and Reconstruction.

Theresa White of Pan African Family Empowerment and Land Preservation Network, a Beaufort-based organization that assists Gullah-Geechee families in preserving their land, says St. Helena once boasted 14 neighborhood convenience stores.

Many factors contributed to their demise, says White. One common factor was the deaths of owners whose children chose not to continue in the family business.

Both Chaplin’s and Fountain Island convenience stores are being added to the Gullah Geechee Seafood Trail, which the Gullah Geechee Chamber of Commerce is developing.

“Our people should be in business for ourselves, and build wealth like the other ethnic groups in America,” says Fountain Island’s Mack. “Then we can give back to our communities.”

Mack originally planned on becoming the “candy lady,” just selling candy, potato chips, soda, tobacco and the like. But once she got started, she discovered that more than candy was needed on St. Helena.

That’s when she decided to open a grocery and small kitchen.

“They call this a food desert,” says Mack. “So you can’t get food here.”

The Centers for Disease Control defines a food desert as a geographic area where access to affordable, healthy food options, especially fresh fruits and vegetables, is limited due to the absence of grocery stores within convenient traveling distance.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says 13.5 million Americans live in food deserts including more than a million South Carolinians. Much of St. Helena has a relatively high number of households without vehicles that are located more than a half-mile from a supermarket, the USDA says.

Mack named Fountain Island Blue after the Fontainebleau State Park in Louisiana, which she visited as a child.

At the store, fisherman can find fishing bait and ice used to keep the catch fresh. Car washes are offered, and a boat wash is in the works.

Customers can pick up a lottery ticket or order chicken Alfredo and pulled pork and New Orleans favorites like po’ boys. Other New Orleans-infused recipes are coming thanks to Mack’s sister, an excellent cook who is developing the recipes.

Cold cuts like hog head cheese and souse have gone over particularly well. “This is what they come for,” says Mack, as Allen sliced the sandwich meat one day last week.

Not without its challenges

Mack and the Chaplins agree that running a small store on a rural island doesn’t come without challenges. Creativity and a propensity for hard work is required to make ends meet. Both Mack and the Chaplins have many talents and use them to supplement their grocery incomes.

The 54-year-old Mack, for instance, is a master barber and a bail bondsman. “I just catch them with the charm, more than the gun,” Mack says with a smile, of her work hunting bad guys.

For his part, Howard Chaplin calls himself a “jack of all trades” — carpenter, fisherman, farmer and bricklayer. While Howard used his varied skills working in civil service jobs at Marine Corps Recruit Depot on Parris Island and Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Harriet ran the store and also worked at Beaufort Memorial Hospital. On top of that, the couple managed to raise four children — two boys and two girls —and also ran a farming and shrimping business.

“He was a workaholic — and he’s trying to make me one too,” she says with a laugh.

The oldest daughter Diane, who began working at the store when she was 10, calls her parents “a pillar” of the community.

One frustration the Chaplins have encountered recently is a distributor that is requiring a $3,000 weekly purchase in order to make deliveries. They’ve managed to work around it for now, but don’t think the requirement is fair for a smaller store. “Where are we going to put it?” says Harriet.

It was Howard’s dream to build the store. Harriet recalls a time when almost every St. Helena community had one. When Chaplin’s Grocery opened in 1974, the closest larger store was 10 to 15 miles away.

Chaplin’s has been a staple in the community ever since. Over the years, Howard and Harriet have occasionally provided advice and financial assistance along with the groceries.

“I was like a counselor,” Harriet Chaplin says. “They would come to me with their problems.”

As for Howard, Harriet says, “He was like a bank,” referring to the loans he was known to give out occasionally because of his big heart.

But if people needed help, she adds, whether it be medicine, food or clothing, the Chaplins stepped up and were quick to donate to the local athletic teams as well.

Open 7 days a week — even during hurricanes — Chaplin’s Grocery continues to provide simple basics, from canned goods to fresh shrimp to country-style fried pork cracklings, cold cuts, beer and fish bait.

“I think there is a great need because they are still buying,” Harriet says.

One day last week, a “ding dong” rang out every time the door opened as a steady stream of customers came in to buy this and that.

“These are all my good customers,” Harold Chaplin said as he sat behind the counter. “I’m blessed.”