In the autumn of 1939 my Great Grandfather, Ephraim Ayars, endeavored upon an undertaking that became a legacy for my family and our communities. In September of that year, Germany had invadedPoland, France and Great Britain declare war on Germany, WorldWar 2 begins and we were still in the midst of a depression. So as myGrandfather was entering his senior year in Bridgeton HighSchool, during clearly uncertain times, my Great Grandfather opens his doors for the first time and Ayars Market is born.
He becomes a staple to the community for over thirty years.I still hear stories from folks about running into the store across the uneven wooden floor to get candy.And after raising a family and watching others do the same as they passed through his doors, he and myGreat Grandmother, Beatrice sell their market to Joe and Sandi Farhnbach. They ran it successfully and eventually transition to "the Muskrat Mall" in Canton.
The original Market deteriorated and was taken down a couple years ago. However, Joe and Sandi donated as much of the store as we could load up and you can see parts of the exterior and interior that have been incorporated here in the this Market today.
Our story continued on the corner of Wesley and Eakin in theCity of Salem where my grandparents, Jack and Dorothy, orDot as everyone called her, ran their little corner market. It was a store where kids in the neighbor hood would gather up returnable soda bottles and could exchange them for nickels to buy penny candy. Where you could go when times were tight and get a line of credit till payday and where the house was in the back and the store was up front? Where my father, Bud, and my Aunt Judy grew up. It's where the ideals, work ethic and duty to your fellow man were instilled in my Dad. SO, that corner building that still stands in Salem today is the birthplace of what becomesBud's Market and what you feel when you walk in these doors today.
My Dad's first time as an entrepreneur was using his radio flyer to collect empty soda bottles from all the construction sites left behind by the workers. He would exchange them with his Mom for cash at theMarket. Then he became a "paperboy" and in 1956 was named "NewspaperBoy of the Year". He won a bike. My Dad always said, "It's ok not to succeed, its NOT ok to not try". So in 1971 he bought the Market you know and love today from Dot. We didn't even sell coffee at that time.Charlene Waddington, who came to work for us when my brother was born in 1974, said she had to walk around the corner to get coffee! But even though we were a grocery store, my Dad started to sell coffee and he started to sell subs and sandwiches instead of just lunch meats, cuts of steaks and sausages. He then formed a relationship to last decades (H estarted buying all his baked goods from Terrigno's bakery) and the Bud'sMarket Sub is born. He measured his sandwiches by two things: a half a sub should always weigh at least a pound AND "if you bring it to a ballgame and don't make a mess...you didn't buy it from me." By the1980's he had a Market that welcomed everyone as if you were an old friend and stocked all the essentials of the proverbial General Store. Or as he put it "if we don't have it, you don't need it." He even rented videos. Yes kids, there was a time before Netflix...and it was pretty doggone good.
By the 1990's I was working alongside the man that remembered everyone's name, coffee, what you liked on your sandwich, what sport your kids played, and he loved every minute of it. "Its not your store, it's theirs. And if you don't realize that you won't be here long." My Dad was up every day as early as the dairy farmers, ALWAYS had a smile on his face, and was truly excited to be therefor everyone. On a busy day no one was better and on a slow day, he would get it all done AND there might even be a few games of chance with the guys over coffee before they headed off to work. Even his last moments were being about his business.
SO, my family has made its business taking care of you, the largest extended family ever. Because that's what you are to us. AND that's the secret to remembering you all. "How do you do it?" so many have asked."Remember everything?" Have you ever forgotten your kid's birthday? Or a wedding anniversary? When you care about things, then you won't forget. Everyone was important to my great-grandfather when he started all of this in the most uncertain time inour nation's history. To Dot, when she took care of everyone in Salem and relocated to Alloway and Quinton.And to my Father as he took the reigns and drove like no one else. So fast you would have to hold on, but so fun that you would be ready for the next ride immediately. Screaming again!, again!Just like a kid at an amusement park.
And YOU are all so important to this Buddy and every(buddy) here. As you step inside everyday I just want to say thank you!! There is no Bud's Market without you. These are the stories of my family. Great people, fearless, hard working and with tremendous heart. But the pages of our continuing story are ALWAYS about you.
Much of what you see and hear in this little store would have been my Grandmother's era.Everything that my family has to this day(including the amazing chicken pot pie recipe) is from Dorothy. Her father died when she was young and she grew up poor as most did during the depression. She and her brother Jake would sleep on two chairs pushed together in the hallway so herMother could board out their room. At age 15, and about a year with the US entering the war, she was working two jobs to help the family make ends meet. After the war, she and Jack bought the Wesley and Eakin Street market and she raised Judy andBud while also running the Market. In the mid 60's she and Jack split up and she bought both the Alloway Market and the Market here in Quinton.She was strong, fearless, and could never be told"you can't do that". Something common in the days when it was still the "Boys Club". So after successfully running the two markets she sold them to Bud and got in a bidding war between two gentlemen from Alloway for the town's liquor She politely knocked on both their doors on the license and she and her second husband then built and told them, "I heard you bid 65,000. I just bid 85,000 and every time you bid again I will beat you (equivalent of almost 140,000 today). She won the bid license and she and her second husband then built the Alloway Village Inn from the ground up untile she sold that to her daughter Judy and her husband Doug.
She never missed a day of work, a day at the race, a game of pinochle, a chance to pick on you if she could and NEVER missed a chance to help her family. All the prosperity of two families sprang fourth from one woman's fearless ambition and hard work. She used to say, "Why is it that no one has the time to do it right the first time by they have ALL the time to do it over? DO IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME!" She definitely did.
