LIMA, Ohio (WLIO) — Stites Grocery has been a staple in the Lima community for decades, offering discounted groceries while building a reputation for family values, faith and customer service.
The family-owned discount grocery store specializes in discounted and distressed products, including close-dated items, canned and boxed goods, along with a large selection of meat.
Stites Grocery opened in 1986 after Claire and Eugene Stites, who owned a variety store on Harding Highway, decided to enter the grocery business. Their daughter, Kim, and her husband, Tim Fetter, soon took over the operation and have run the store ever since.
"After a few months, my mother, my mother in law come to me one morning and said, 'hey, what do you think of the grocery business'? I said, 'I love it'. She said, 'well, you guys take it and run with it'. So me and my wife Kim has been here ever since."
Fetter said faith has been at the center of the business from the beginning.
"When we first started here where our where we was getting our stuff, the distributorship, he had come out to me one day and he said, hey, he said, what's your philosophy? I said, well, we're going to be open 10 to 5 Monday through Saturday. Closed on Sunday. No cigarettes, no alcohol, no lottery. And he looked at me and he said, you will not be in business for six months. And here we are 40 years later."
Despite growing competition from larger retailers, Fetter said the support of local customers has allowed the business to continue to thrive. He said the store recorded its best single day of sales ever last month, just before the Fourth of July.
"They have done a tremendous job of supporting our business through the years, and we are very grateful for that."
For Fetter, serving the Lima community remains one of the most rewarding parts of owning the business.
"It's a lot of work, but there's a lot of good things that come out of that. And I love the people. I just love to talk to the people that come in the store."
