(This story originally appeared NewsChannel 5)
When the power went out at Spring Street Market in Manchester, Tennessee, right before the Fourth of July, General Manager Kelly Wilder had a store full of customers and no way to ring anyone up.
“We lose our power and we have no registers. No service lanes. We’ve got nothing,” Wilder said.
So her team went old school. They hand-wrote every order, rounded up the totals, and did the math by hand. With no way to run a card, they let customers walk out with their groceries on a promise. Pay later.
Hours after the store closed, a small fire broke out and damaged equipment in the frozen food section. Manchester police and firefighters knocked the flames down fast, but they didn’t stop there. They noticed one of the freezers had lost power too.
“They form an old-fashioned fire brigade line, like you see on TV with Bugs Bunny, and they start slinging product and get all the product out of the cooler that’s down,” Wilder said.
Their effort worked. Out of seventeen freezer doors full of product, the store didn’t lose a single bag.
For Wilder, it was proof of what makes her town different.
“People taking care of people is what small town is all about,” she said.
And the trust her staff extended during the blackout came back around too. Every customer who took groceries on the honor system returned to pay their bill in full.
“One hundred percent of Manchester showed up just as strong for us as we did for them,” Wilder said. “Can’t beat Manchester spirit.”
As a thank you, Wilder is giving all sixteen responding officers and firefighters hundred dollar gift cards to the store. And next month, Spring Street Market is getting a renovation, including new freezers.
Sometimes the lights go out and what you find out is how bright your neighbors really are.
Comments