Submitted photo Eric Hull Jr. and his father, Eric Sr., stand in one of the checkout lanes at Hull’s Super Duper in New Garden. The grocery store recently celebrated its 50th year in business.

NEW GARDEN — Eric Hull Jr. was only 6 months old when his father and grandfather decided to move the family grocery store business from Youngstown to this crossroads community just west of Guilford Lake.

Little did Hull know that 50 years later he would be the one running the store, Hull’s Super Duper, which celebrated its 50th anniversary on New Year’s Day.

“It’s a lot of work, but it’s the employees and customers who make the business,” said Hull, who goes by EJ. “We’re here because of the community. We were new in town and they welcomed us.”

Located near the intersection of state Routes 9 and 172, Hull’s Super Duper is a small, family-owned grocery store (3,000 square feet) in a world dominated by large chain stores of up to 45,000 square feet or more and facing new competition from the proliferation of dollar stores being in built in small and rural communities.

“Nowadays it’s a corporate world … I don’t know if there are any (non-chain) stores our size that are left,” he said.

So how does Super Duper manage to not only survive but thrive? “We have everything a big store has, but in a small building,” Hull said, noting their shelves are crammed full with most of the same variety of products you find at any big-chain supermarket.

The key is its bakery and meat departments, however, especially the latter.

“Our meat department is what’s kept us in business. We specialize in premium made-to-order cuts by our own butcher. It has to be fresh every day,” he said “Our meat and personal service. That’s the only way you can beat them. My dad always said any store can sell a can of corn or beans.”

In fact Hull’s 72-year-old father, who still stops by almost every day to help in the meat department, trained the long-time butcher, Jeff Sanor. “Everybody knows Jeff. Without him we wouldn’t be here,” Hull said.

Customer service has always been paramount and he said that starts with a dedicated and friendly staff, many of whom have been with him for more than 20 years. “Treat people nice and get them what they want. If they want one thing, I’ll get it for them,” Hull said.

If this all sounds a bit like Mayberry, perhaps it is because there is a small-town vibe to the Super Duper, whether from the cramped feel of the narrow aisleways or from Hull and the cashiers who seem to know every customer by name, their children and grandchildren and what may be going on in their lives.

“I see them more than I see my own family, but they are like family to me. I try to learn a little something about everyone who comes in the store,” said the naturally friendly Hull.

The same goes for people who own seasonal homes at nearby Guilford Lake State Park and shop at the store from Memorial Day into fall. “You get to know them too. They’re like family,” he said.

Hull’s family has been in the grocery store business since the early 1900s. Their store was located on Youngstown’s south side and was a community fixture for decades, but that began to change with the riots that occurred following the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King.

“What happened, I hate to say, is in 1968, when Martin Luther King was killed, our store in Youngstown was vandalized real bad (by looters), so they decided to leave,” Hull said of his father and grandfather.

They learned about a small supermarket for sale in New Garden, built and operated by Frank Rist since 1966. The Hulls purchased the store from Rist in 1969, and it officially opened under their ownership on Jan. 1, 1970. They later sold the Youngstown store.

Hull began working at the Super Duper when he was 14, starting with bagging groceries and processing reusable glass soda pop bottles back in the days when grocery stores would give you a dime for every bottle that was returned. As Hull grew older so did his responsibilities.

“I was doing beer orders before I was old enough to buy beer,” he laughed.

Hull works seven days a week, except when on the rare occasion when he takes a vacation. “There were four years when I only took Christmas off because that’s the only day we’re closed,” he said. “I look at this like being a farm. Farmers work every day and don’t take any days off. At least I get Christmas off. They don’t even get that.”

And that is fine by Hull, who is unmarried and does not have any children. “I’m married to this place,” he joked. “I guess I just have the same work ethic as my father and grandfather: If you want something your have to work for it.”

The Super Duper employs 20 people, and Hull estimated over the years 400 to 500 different people have worked there, many of them students from nearby United Local High School. Five sets of workers who met at the store later married, and he believes three couples remain so.

Hull keeps in contact with some of his former employees on Facebook, many of whom say working at the Super Duper was the best job they ever had.

“I take pride in that I gave them their first chance,” he said.

Hull has three sisters and a brother, all of whom at one time worked at the store, but none were interested in making it their career. He has nieces and nephews, and one niece in high school is interested in working at the store.

“I don’t know if any one of them will take over or not,” Hull said.

Until that days comes Hull is content to work as long as he can.

“The times have changed but the people in our community are still great,” he said. “We couldn’t have picked a better community to be a part of.”

tgiambroni@mojonews.com