'It's for the people': New owners at Rockford Gray's don't plan to change a thing

People — customers and employees — have always been what has kept Gray’s Foods going on North Alpine Road in Rockford for 39 years.

And that is not expected to change now that the store has been sold.

“This is a community store,” said new co-owner Sid Ahmed. “It’s for the people. They own it, kind of. That is how Jeff set it up so many years ago. And we are not going to change anything. It will still be Gray’s Foods.”

Ahmed and his brother, Zee, are part of Atlas Foods, a Chicago management company that bought the store at 1630 N. Alpine Road from Jeff Gray last month.

The store opened in 1984 and is the last of the eight supermarkets the Gray family owned and operated in the 55 years they did business in Rockford.

“My mom and dad opened the first store in 1968,” Gray said. “Profit and growth were always important, but not as important as people. People were first, always.”

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Gray’s parents, Cliff, now 93, and Joan, 89, brought stores to areas of Rockford that didn’t have supermarkets and stocked them with items customers in those areas wanted to see on the shelves.

The Highcrest Centre store has became known for its deli, produce and bakery and is a small, corner store with relatively low overhead. There are no fancy self-checkout stations. The store doesn't even sell alcohol or tobacco products.

And while liquor and tobacco would mean more revenue, Ahmed has no plans to add them.

“We thought in the beginning that maybe we could, but then customers told us they didn’t want that,” Ahmed. “And we are going to go with the customers. And they said to keep it (as is), so we will be better off.”

Ahmed also said the brothers do not want to compete with their neighbors.

“There’s a (Kelley Williamson Mobil) right here that sells liquor,” he said. “And there’s plenty of other places that sell beer and cigarettes. We don’t want to try to take away from them.”

The Ahmeds are retaining all 65 Gray's employees, some of whom have been with store for more than 20 years.

“This is like a family,” Ahmed said. “We don’t feel like we came and took over anything. We feel like we came here and joined this family.”

For Gray, he said will miss his staff and those he’s met since starting in the grocery business as an 11-year-old stock boy. One of those people is his wife, Deb.

“It was 1974,” he said. “She was a checker at our Broadway store. She was 15 years old. I was 17 working there.”

Gray is staying on as a consultant until the Ahmeds are comfortable running the store on their own.

Customers say they’ll miss him but know he would never have turned the store over to a buyer who did not wish to continue his family's legacy.

“This is a down-home cozy, friendly store,” said Rockford resident Nancy West. “It’s a place where some people come in once or twice a day. My car is always on autopilot, pointed in the store’s direction. I’ve been coming here for many years.”

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Rockford's Gray's Foods under new ownership