Sunflower closing

Sunflower Food Store, a fixture among downtown businesses for decades, is closing in May, according to store personnel.
At press time, attempts by The Times to contact Sunflower’s owners were unsuccessful.
The loss of the grocery will mean the first time the towndown area has been without a food store, dating back to the town’s early days prior to incorporation in 1907, when a number of small groceries dotted the downtown area, and into and after the 1950s when so-called supermarkets began offering a larger selection to shoppers. Local independents like Willis’, McDonald Waring, Leroy Coreman’s Food Mart and the Holmes Bros. Foodelite were eventually replaced by Star Foods, Jitney Jungle and others operating in the downtown area.