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8  GUIDE TO YELLOW SPR INGS  |  2020 – 2021 By YS NEWS STAFF An “essential business.” That’s what Tom’s Market was deemed in the early months of the 2020 corona- virus pandemic. But for vil- lagers, the downtown grocer has long been an essential part of life in town. In fact, there has been a food store continuously at the same Xenia Avenue block for the last 148 years, according to News archives. Yellow Springers’ dislike of big box stores and prefer- ence for small and local is evident in the support it has given its local grocery store. In turn, Tom’s proprietor, Tom Gray, tries to meet the needs of its mostly local customers, with a sizable portion of local, organic, gourmet and vegetarian foods aimed to please local palates. “For a small store, I feel we do a good job of trying to have what customers The grocery store— Anchor of downtown commerce want, and I see us staying that way for the foreseeable future,” Gray told the News a few years ago. Knowing his customers and catering to their desires is Gray’s constant priority. It’s a strategy that’s kept this tiny market viable in an age when it’s not easy being a small independent business. Gray keeps a suggestion box up front and reads it weekly to order new products. “If I can get it, I’ll get it. If it sells, I’ll keep it,” Gray said of customer suggestions. The longevity of the grocery — and Gray’s com- mitment to it — speaks to its place as an anchor of downtown commerce. Impressively, Gray has worked at the store for 55 years, starting out as a bag boy, back when it was called Luttrell’s. A freshman in high school, it was his first job, and after graduation he moved up the ranks to manage produce, then the meat department, then dairy and finally the whole store, which by then was known as Weaver’s. He and his wife, Eveyln, purchased it in 2001. What’s changed in all those years? One thing is that there was more compe- tition back then, Gray told the News recently. In the 1960s and ’70s there were several grocery stores in town, which included Carl- isles, located where the YS Credit Union is now; the IGA on the south side of town; and the co-op grocery store on High Street, where Gray would walk to get a popsicle from his home on nearby Wright Street. Another change is that the store used to be known more for its meat depart- ment, and now is praised for its fresh, local produce, a sign of changing tastes and the popularity of vegetarian diets in town. “Our produce is the best around,” Gray said. But a lot has also stayed the same, including the site of the grocery. Edna Dean Miller Birch told the News in 1971 that her father-in-law, John Milligan Birch, operated a store there when he came to Yellow Springs in 1872, and continued it until 1911, when her husband, John Hugh Birch, took charge. The younger Birch sold the store in 1913 to P.W. Weiss and R.O. Wead, then Yellow Springs’ school superinten- dent, and it became “Weiss & Wead’s.” Weiss bought out Wead a few years later, and ran the shop for a good 35 years. In 1948, Weiss sold it to Edwin “Eddie” Luttrell, who was affiliated with the Eavey Company, wholesale grocers in Xenia who served, at one PHOTO: JULIE STEINHILBER Luttrell’s Super-Valu in the 1960s. The grocery later became Weaver’s and is now Tom’s. PHOTO: ANTIOCHIANA, ANTIOCH COLLEGE An early photograph shows the grocery store building, at right, before both buildings were destroyed in the 1954 fire.