B&T’s Food Fresh Market in Lexington continues to be the best-selling store in the chain, said co-owner John Triplett, who anticipates renovations despite the closure of its Watkinsville location.
The B&T’s Food Fresh corporate team made the decision to close its Watkinsville location in mid-February. Triplett said the Lexington location will remain open.
“Not a chance,” Triplett said. “We didn’t want to close this one (Watkinsville). We just thought it was in the best interest of our employees and in our company to do this.”
B&T’s corporate team offered positions at other stores to all Watkinsville employees affected by the closure, Triplett said.
For example, Danny Burger, former sales associate at the Watkinsville store, transferred to the Lexington produce department. His first shift was last week, store manager Tammy Watkins said.
“As far as the grocery stores, we are the top seller,” Lexington assistant store manager Michele Roberts said. “We worry, but they have assured us that we will not be closing.”
Triplett said he plans to rebrand and open something “completely different” for Oconee County. No plans have been finalized.
The Watkinsville closure provides the ability to redirect funding to other stores, Triplett said, including the Lexington location. The Lexington store likely will see several renovations this year, including new lighting, decor, aisle markers and paint.
“Upon doing this, we approved decor packages for Jefferson, Lexington and Athens,” Triplett said. “We just turned around and put it right back in the community.”
In addition, new registers will continue to be installed at the Lexington store over the next few weeks. The first register was installed on Jan. 28.
The new registers are fully automated and will allow the store to participate in the chain’s loyalty program, which is in use at five other stores.
The program is free for customers and will allow access to digital coupons and loyalty benefits. Once all registers are installed, the loyalty program will be ready to use.
Roberts said the new registers are easy to learn and benefit the customers through sales and fast checkout.
B&T’s bought all five Bell’s locations — Lexington, Athens, Watkinsville, Jefferson and Lincolnton — in October 2023. That doubled the size of the company, which was founded by Triplett and Clark Brunson in the early 2000s.