Murphy’s Supermarket, located on Nash Street in Louisburg, attracted customers from throughout Franklin County over a period of nearly fifty years. The longevity of the business, despite competition from chain stores, resulted from the owners’ commitment to continuous improvement and good customer service.

Founded by George Washington Murphy and his son Maurice Clifton, the business began as G. W. Murphy & Son. George Murphy had operated a small tenant farm in Louisburg Township, but in 1906 moved his family to Louisburg, where he worked in the grocery store of Brantley G. Hicks, which was located on the north side of East Nash Street, near Main Street. When he reached the age of twelve, Maurice worked for Mr. Hicks after school and on Saturdays. Following the death of B. G. Hicks in 1915, both father and son worked for L. P. Hicks, whose mercantile business occupied the three-story building located on the northeast corner of Main and East Nash Streets. In 1921, Maurice opened a small grocery store on South Main Street but later worked as a traveling salesman for Morris & Co., a subsidiary of the Armour meat company. In the fall of 1924, father and son decided to open their own grocery store.

They borrowed $700 and rented a 1,200-square-foot space on the south side of East Nash Street from the heirs of George W. Ford, a prominent businessman who had used the location as his commissary. When the store opened in January 1925, the Murphys offered “heavy and fancy” groceries, molasses pumped from a barrel, and freshly ground coffee. An early photo of the interior of this rustic business shows George Murphy proudly holding what appears to be a cured ham. Their initial advertisement in The Franklin Times offered top prices for “all kinds of raw furs.”

The store prospered, even during the Great Depression. The proprietors remodeled their shelves in the fall of 1931, which the editor of The Franklin Times considered a great improvement. This step took place just as L. P. Hicks decided to rent his corner store and move his business to a smaller location. In the summer of 1933, the Murphys purchased the stock of a competitor, F. M. Fuller, and gave him a position in their firm. The following January, they paid $786 for the building previously owned by the Ford family and expanded their store. A special issue of The Franklin Times published on June 28, 1935, referred to the business as “the store Where a Dollar Does Its Duty.” It now offered feeds, seeds, and a variety of meats, fish, and oysters. A refrigeration plant kept perishable foods fresh.

Chain stores often competed with G. W. Murphy & Son. One of them, Colonial Stores, was located on North Main Street, in a building owned by Willie G. Lancaster. When the building burned in December 1949, Lancaster quickly rebuilt it. In August 1950, Colonial Stores opened a large, modern store in Lancaster’s new building. Planning for this eventuality, the Murphys remodeled their store and in September 1950 held a twenty-fifth-anniversary sale. During this event, they gave away thirty baskets of groceries, dressed turkeys and hams, and gifts provided by other local merchants.

The meat counter at G. W. Murphy & Son gained a reputation for quality and service. Among those who managed this department were Maurice’s brother, George Herman, who later opened The Murphy House, a successful restaurant and food distribution business. Later, Hugh Leonard and Ronald Burnette carried on the tradition.

In 1966, when he was 64, Maurice Murphy borrowed $50,000 from First Citizens Bank & Trust Company so he could once again expand his store. He purchased the building on the east side of his business, opened the wall between the two structures, and created a modern 7,000-square-foot “supermarket.” A key employee who made this possible was Margaret Smith Edwards, Maurice’s sister-in-law, who oversaw the store’s accounts and payroll. Many local men whose first job was that of bagboy at Murphy’s will recall Mrs. Edwards distributing weekly checks each Saturday night. A free delivery service conducted on Fridays and Saturdays by Fletcher Perry exemplified the store’s commitment to customer satisfaction.

This final expansion, which increased the store’s business by fifteen percent, caught the attention of The Carolina Food Dealer, a trade magazine, which in March of 1970 carried an article entitled “Retire—No, Expand! Says Louisburg Grocer.” When Governor Robert W. Scott read the article, he wrote Mr. Murphy a congratulatory letter.

Maurice Murphy chose to retire in 1974. He sold his fixtures and leased the building. Later, he sold the structure to Franklin County, which remodeled it for use as county offices.

Published in The Franklin Times on April 20, 2017.

Maury York is director of the Tar River Center for History and Culture at Louisburg College.