In many convenience stores, customers enter each day, make a purchase and walk out. Not much is said. Achilles Shopping Center, known by locals as Marvin's, is not one of those stores. Buckle up for attention, a quick chat and maybe even a prayer if you need one. Manager Betty “Lou” Sammons has created an atmosphere of community and care in this Gloucester County, Virginia, store.

“My store is the social hub of Guinea. I look out for everyone. I pray for them when they need it,” Sammons said. Guinea is a small community in Achilles, sandwiched between the York River and Mobjack Bay on Virginia’s Middle Peninsula. The store is the must-stop destination of the Guinea watermen who make their living in the local waters, fishing and harvesting oysters.

When they shut down the state in April, I worked 65 days without a day off. I wanted customers to know I would be there.

Sammons started working at the store in 1988 when it was owned by Marvin and Malvina Crane, who later sold it and eventually bought it back in 2016. The Cranes asked Sammons to return to train a manager, and as it turned out, she was the best person for the job. “I fell in love with the store all over again,” she said.

Bringing Home Back to Cooking

When Sammons rejoined the store she upgraded the foodservice program, which offered sand-wiches and fast food. “I added specials and more elaborate meals. Customers wanted more homemade stuff. I do a lot of Southern cooking,” Sammons explained.

Fried chicken is a popular menu item, and Sammons sticks to her grandmother’s recipe. First, she brines the raw chicken overnight to draw out the “blood from the bone” so the chicken “doesn’t have a store taste. Then I cut it up and put it in fresh salt water and soak it for an hour. I salt and pepper it and set it in the cooler overnight. That way the flavor goes through.”

Nothing goes to waste. Chicken backs and necks flavor other dishes, like chicken and dumplings or soup. Extra mashed potatoes become potato cakes. “I add diced onions and a little bit of flour to stick them together, scoop it out and put it on the grill and flatten them. You haven’t lived ‘til you’ve had them,” she said.

Sammons puts a lot of time into the daily specials. It takes two days to prepare a batch, and she often sells out by 2 o’clock. Specials include homemade sides: potato salad, baked beans, a biscuit or bread pudding. “I make the baked beans a day ahead of time. That way the flavors go together. I let it sit overnight and bake it in the morning at 350 degrees until it’s bubbly and good,” she said.

Sammons takes to heart customer feedback. Raisins in bread pudding, as it turns out, draw strong reactions for and against. So Sammons prepares two pans of bread pudding—one with raisins and one without. “I sell a pan of each one, so, it’s a split decision on which is more popular,” she said. She also keeps in mind customers who need to eat on the go. “I make the bread pudding so guys can come by in their trucks, and they can pick it up with their fingers and eat it. It’s a thicker consistency.”

Coping with COVID

“When they shut down the state in April, I worked 65 days without a day off. I wanted customers to know I would be there, and that’s made a big difference,” Sammons explained, adding, “My deli sales tripled. The kitchen is open, so they can see what I’m doing, and they feel safe.”

Virginia is in Phase 3, which means restaurants are open but not at full capacity. Many customers are cautious about entering public places, and Sammons wanted to make sure that people who want food can get it without begin inconvenienced. “We have older customers as well as people with small children,” she said. “I tell them we’ll bring it to their homes. We have a lot of elderly people in our community, and it’s not always safe for them to come out. If there’s anything I can do to make it safe for them, you know I’m going to do it.”

A lot of hardworking folks live in the Achilles-Guinea community. Sammons, often referred to as the “Mayor of Guinea,” has created an atmosphere that feels like home. “With such a small community, everyone knows everyone, and I’m related to a lot of people. If you help each other it makes things go nicer. We care for each other down here. That makes a difference.”