Oh my gosh, your words put me right in Stella's kitchen. I love that she always burned the bacon. I do that, too. What a gorgeous essay, Georgann. Just perfect.
Vickie Byers here, from Kitty Hawk. I am friends with Ellie in Ashe County. We met at your book signing in Lansing. Also friends with Feather Phillips. After that intro, I must tell you a story about Braswell's.
Tom and I moved from New York to the Outer Banks in 1989 after purchasing a dilapidated retail establishment in 1989. Our first major trade show was in the fall of 1989 at the Grand Strand in Myrtle Beach. Braswell's was a vendor at the show. We were so excited about their traditional southern products we bought 25 cases which qualified for free shipping. A big deal!!! From watermelon pickles to all the pepper jellies and Vidalia onion steak sauce. we carried it all. At next show we purchased the private label branding. In essence, our store's logo, name and address... on the label made exclusively by Braswell. Risky but good decision on our part. We even had bulk Vidalia onion peppercorn dressing in our deli for specialty subs and sandwiches. Customers would buy a half dozen bottles at a time to take home, I would get special orders for cases of items that I would ship throughout the year and always the phone calls at holiday time to ship bottle to customers as Christmas gifts.
So, over the course of the 25 years we owned our store, I am certain we sold well over a thousand cases. We even had a customer come in off the beach on humid summer morning, feeling a bit faint from the heat, grab on to the wooden Braswell display rack to steady herself as she and the rack fell to the floor. She was fine. Our broken glass Braswell jars made a big mess.
It has been almost ten years since we sold our store. We will always remember Braswell's as one of our very own unique finds and we were probably the first merchant to introduce the products to the Outer Banks.
Thank you for revisiting a long standing southern company and their tradition of being part of many of our memorable meals! I so much enjoyed the blog. Vickie Byers
Oh my gosh, your words put me right in Stella's kitchen. I love that she always burned the bacon. I do that, too. What a gorgeous essay, Georgann. Just perfect.
Hi Georgann,
Vickie Byers here, from Kitty Hawk. I am friends with Ellie in Ashe County. We met at your book signing in Lansing. Also friends with Feather Phillips. After that intro, I must tell you a story about Braswell's.
Tom and I moved from New York to the Outer Banks in 1989 after purchasing a dilapidated retail establishment in 1989. Our first major trade show was in the fall of 1989 at the Grand Strand in Myrtle Beach. Braswell's was a vendor at the show. We were so excited about their traditional southern products we bought 25 cases which qualified for free shipping. A big deal!!! From watermelon pickles to all the pepper jellies and Vidalia onion steak sauce. we carried it all. At next show we purchased the private label branding. In essence, our store's logo, name and address... on the label made exclusively by Braswell. Risky but good decision on our part. We even had bulk Vidalia onion peppercorn dressing in our deli for specialty subs and sandwiches. Customers would buy a half dozen bottles at a time to take home, I would get special orders for cases of items that I would ship throughout the year and always the phone calls at holiday time to ship bottle to customers as Christmas gifts.
So, over the course of the 25 years we owned our store, I am certain we sold well over a thousand cases. We even had a customer come in off the beach on humid summer morning, feeling a bit faint from the heat, grab on to the wooden Braswell display rack to steady herself as she and the rack fell to the floor. She was fine. Our broken glass Braswell jars made a big mess.
It has been almost ten years since we sold our store. We will always remember Braswell's as one of our very own unique finds and we were probably the first merchant to introduce the products to the Outer Banks.
Thank you for revisiting a long standing southern company and their tradition of being part of many of our memorable meals! I so much enjoyed the blog. Vickie Byers