![]() And I was tickled to death to get out of that," he said of the policy of allowing customers to charge groceries. A few lessons he learned on his own.Īt his first store, which he operated for seven years, he "went through the credit business. "We worked the stock and the produce, and we delivered."īut Harroz's father didn't teach him everything. "I did anything they needed done," Harroz said of his first job, at the southwest Oklahoma City store his father opened in the early 1930s. If the peddling of produce, canned goods and T-bone steaks seemed an obvious career choice, the reason was as simple as a 10-year-old boy.Īt an age when today's boys mine the Internet, skate on Roller Blades and ping hardballs with aluminum bats, Nick Harroz learned to ply his trade - at Fairview Grocers. With his military service complete, the young man didn't look far for the profession that would guide his future. They voiced concerns over traffic, noise, safety of students walking to nearby Edmond Santa Fe High School and other issues.īut the homeowners lost - and Crest won - on every front, including a citywide zoning vote in April 1995. However - in size, emotion and legal expense - neither of those stores can match the one the Harroz family will open in February or March.Ĭonstruction on Crest's third store - its first outside Midwest City - started last spring.īut before bulldozers cleared a 15-acre field of weeds at the southeast corner of 15th Street and Santa Fe in west Edmond, nearby homeowners waged a king-size zoning war.Īllied Residents in Support of a Safe Edmond used two years of public meeting protests, petition drives and lawsuits to fight Crest's plans. The Midwest City locations employ more than 650 people and produce sales that topped $100 million in 1994. ![]() "We delivered the groceries and charged the groceries."įifty years later, Harroz's two 24-hour Crest stores draw bargain-hungry customers from 30, 40 and 50 miles away. "I had a meat market man and a young schoolboy, and the three of us ran the store," said Harroz, a month shy of his 76th birthday. Through five decades in the grocery business, the Crest Discount Foods entrepreneur has stuck close to his father's advice - and enjoyed a few zillion carts' worth of success.įresh out of the Navy in 1946, Harroz used $4,000 in savings to buy his first store, Nick's Brett Drive Grocery in Midwest City. distribution center, which was constructed in 2014.Ĭrest Foods says it is the “Home of Rock Bottom Prices,” as founder Nick Harroz’s father taught him to “stack it high and sell it cheap.” The grocer says it’s able to offer these low prices because it buys direct from 150 manufacturers and the largest supplier in Oklahoma does not spend large sums of money on advertising has low overhead, pays no rent and owns its own facilities and offers “no games, no gimmicks or expensive frills.If Nick Harroz's daddy taught him anything, he taught him that. 15th and Santa Fe), Moore and Oklahoma City (three). The chain’s other supermarkets are in Midwest City (two), Edmond (at 2200 W. Bruce HarrozĪdditional details were not immediately available, but Crest Foods opened its last store in November 2013 in Norman. The chain, operated by third-generation owner Bruce Harroz, who serves as president, plans for the new store to be located on the northwest corner of Sooner and Covell. Last updated on January 25th, 2017 at 03:01 pmĬrest Foods says it will open its ninth store late this year or in early 2018 in Edmond, Oklahoma.
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