Bennett’s Grocery

Extracted from August 1973 newspaper articles when Bennett’s were celebrating 50 years of business. (Shirley Holub’s Scrapbooks)

Bennett’s envisioned they were going to get rich quick when they built the store and pay off the debt in five years. Instead it took 35 years. They opened the store on Aug 11, 1923, just 1 1/2 months after their wedding. They purchased the old blacksmith building that was located in the middle of the one block business district. They tore it down and had a two-story brick building erected by Fred Hunt of South Dakota. Carpentry was done by the local crew of August Harms Carpenters.

Initially, all merchandise was shipped by train. Fresh bread arrived daily from Hub City Bakery in Oelwein. Hutchinson Ice Cream Company of Oelwein, supplied ice cream. Oelwein has supplied fruits and vegetables. Meat came from Swift and Co. in Omaha. Originally, all orders, big or small, used to be put up by the merchant. Now, almost everything is self-service and the customer fills his own grocery order.

Original wooden floors were swept daily with a sweeping compound to keep the dust down. Today the tile floors stay clean with a scrubbing and coat of wax.

Ice was cut and hauled from the river and parked in the ice house with saw dust to be used the following year to refrigerate meat, ice cream and pop. The first years the store opened at 6:30 a.m. and could be open as late as midnight on Saturday nights when farm families met in town to discuss crops, their families and the events of the season. Fifty years later they open at 8:10 a.m. and close by 6 p.m. Deliveries arrive at the door by truck, electricity keeps everything cold and the store is air condition.

When they opened there were two other grocery stores in town. In 1973 Bennett’s is the last of the three remaining.

Elmer and Frances have worked side by side since opening. “We’ve always worked together in the store but we fight like the dickens,” Elmer said with a twinkle in his eye and and a loving smile on his face.

They attribute their success to customers. Their very first customers, Mr. and Mrs. John Buenzow, still purchase their groceries at Bennett’s Store.

Bennett’s will hold an open house appreciation at the Oran Community Building across from the store on Aug. 11 from 1 to 6 p.m.

After 54 years in business, Frances Bennett sold the store to her son, Don, in 1977. After selling his shoe store, The Old Spinning Wheel, in Napa, California, Don and his wife moved to Oran to take possession in September. Many remember Don’s wife’s love of Christmas, as her tree remained lit in the upstairs window through out the year.

An auction for Oran Grocery and Equipment was held on Wednesday, June 16, 1982

(Page updated February 25, 2023)