Super Foods and Gene Lawrence are synonymous with Tallassee.
Look around and signs of the grocery store can be seen all round town. From its two locations to sponsoring numerous community functions, Lawrence and SuperFoods have supported Tallassee for decades. The generosity and service earned Lawrence the Tallassee Chamber of Commerce Lifetime Achievement Award. Friend and employee Michael Bird introduced Lawrence to everyone at the annual chamber awards banquet. Corrie Sid and Grove Station would be awarded business of the year. Bob and Pat Reed were given the Frances H. Wagnon Volunteer of the Year Award.
“The brightest light of all is here in this room — Mr. Gene Lawrence,” Bird announced.
PHOTOS: Tallassee Chamber of Commerce Awards Banquet
Lawrence said he moved to Tallassee in 1968 to manage Big Bear after starting working in grocery stores at the age of 12. Big Bear is no longer here as Lawrence helped transform the store into SuperFoods in 1972.
Lawrence credited the community for his and the store’s success over the years.
“It is a wonderful community,” Lawrence said. “It is home. It is just wonderful. People talk about wanting to go to these big cities and don't realize what they have here. The community has been good to us. You can’t beat it.”
There isn’t a ballfield around in Tallassee without a SuperFoods sign. There isn’t a community meal without support either. But the Lawerence family stood firm in the early days of the pandemic keeping inventory of toilet paper and other crucial food items while trying to hold prices down. Lawrence credited the results to years of working with suppliers across the Southeast.
“A lot of it is having connections, not only with the wholesaler but I had a history with other wholesalers,” Lawrence said. “We were able to get things to keep our stores stocked where others couldn’t.”
Those connections came from serving on the board of Associated Grocers in Birmingham.
Lawrence said he saw the potential for the economy to go really awry but didn’ take advantage of the situation.
“It is a joy that makes you feel good to pull it off,” Lawrence said. “We were in a time we had never seen before. It was unreal.”
Lawrence was previously awarded the Frances H. Wagnon Volunteer of the Year Award and SuperFoods was previously named Business of the Year by the Tallassee Chamber of Commerce.
Reeds honored for decades of volunteering
Bob and Pat Reed are likely busier in retirement than when they worked. For all their effort, the Tallassee Chamber of Commerce gave the husband and wife team the Frances H. Wagnon Volunteer of the Year Award.
Bob is retired from the military and the Alabama Public Service Commission. When Pat retired in 1994 she went straight to Community Hospital.
“She was a pink lady,” Bob said of his wife. “She had cancer in 2000 and had to quit. She immediately went to hospice and Meals on Wheels. When I retired in 2016. I joined her.”
Even serving two organizations, the husband and wife team find time to do more. They buy groceries for others. Get others to doctor’s appointments. Pick up prescriptions for others and more.
Pat said the pair works together and are not in a competition to out serve each other.
“We are in it together,” Pat said. “We are a team.”
Bob retired as a colonel from the Army serving in Korea, Germany, Ft. Benning, Ft. Still and Ft. Bragg.
“My unit was activated to go to Desert Storm on Monday,” Bob said. “On Thursday they said never mind.”
When they have a break, the Reeds enjoy birding. Even that is taken to a new level, especially after a trip to Lake Guntersville in 1992 to see bald eagles.
“The Alabama Ornithological Society (AOS) was meeting there,” Bob said. “We joined them and have been doing it ever since.”
In pure Bob Reed style, he has served as president and vice president of AOS to name a few things the Reeds have done with the organization.
Sid, Grove Station named Business of the Year
Grove Station hasn’t been open for two years yet, but the chamber honored it and owner Corrie Sid by naming it Business of the Year.
Sid said she returned to Tallassee to help make it better, something Noah Griggs agrees with.
“She came back home to make a difference and give back to the community she loves,” Griggs said. “She is very driven by her desire to make Tallassee a better place.”
Griggs said Sid has a passion for entertaining and uses Grove Station for hosting dining events that rival those in Atlanta and Birmingham.
“She is a visionary,” Griggs said. “She can see what others can’t. She is fearless. She is not deterred by setbacks such as bridge closings and a city that looks like a warzone. Corrie is what this community needs, a catalyst for change with the same goals everyone has — to make Tallassee a better place to live.”
