This week marks 50 years since Bob Slone started running his first grocery store.
It's been a career marked with ups and downs as Lexington's most famous independent grocer has seen his company grow only to struggle later because of big-box retailers that offer lower prices based on their purchasing power.
"At one time, I had six stores here in Lexington," Slone recalled Tuesday. "Thanks to Kroger, I now have one."
Slone has been operating groceries since he bought his first operation, which was smaller than a convenient store, in 1960 on South Broadway near Waller Avenue. At that time, it was MRS, an acronym for Murray, Reed and Slone. He moved on eight years later to buy a store on Southland Drive that still bears his name.
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Photo by Charles Bertram, Lexington Herald-Leader