In a 2004 interview the present owner, Al Hendricks said, "I actually have a real name, Allen."  He is the "Al" half of Al and James Discount Foods in downtown Shawnee. 

He opened the store with his partner, James Stanley (Al calls him "Jim") in 1978. It was the third identity the building had. First, it was Standard Supermarket for six or seven years, then the Humpty Dumpty chain bought it.

Both men had been with Humpty Dumpty when the chain decided to sell the downtown location, in what Hendricks called a "pretty straightforward deal."  He bought the store and Stanley went into partnership with him.

"I ran the front end," he said, and Stanley ran the meat department. From the outset, discount has been the name of their game.

"We've always been pretty discount," he said, "especially in the meat and produce (departments). ... We really shop for price. ... One of our strengths is never having really been tied (to one supplier)."

About 1998, the pair opened a satellite store in Seminole. 

Hendricks said his customers are largely seniors who live downtown and people who have shopped at the store for 26 years. But, he said, a younger crowd is coming, too.

"(Regular) customers feel at home in the store; people speak to them," he said. "(Seniors) don't have to walk as far."

He said he found a Standard ad from the 1950s once while moving some shelves. It showed canned goods for 10 cents and 39 cents for a chuck roast. He has it framed at his house, he said.
"It's like a piece of history."

He said he started in -- and stuck with -- the business because "it's ever-changing." And having a small store gets him out of the office and onto the floor, helping the customers, working with people. Just like the other day -- outfitted in a regulation blue apron, he bent over the bottom shelf of aisle four, lining up bottles of Parade maple syrup.

Adapted from a Shawnee News-Star article By Kristen Armstrong 
SNS Staff Writer, published on Aug 22, 2004--used by permission.