By Carol Wurschmidt
Michael Tullock, President of the United Grocery Outlet, Inc. was named Tennessee Retailer of the Year by the Tennessee Grocers & Convenience Store Association.  
He visited the Chapman Highway store last week to share the plaque received by the company with manager, Matt Storm, and its seven employees.  Afterward, he toured the store and was informed about the recent remodeling.  
This was the fourth store opened out of the 35 that currently exist in five southern states.  From their distribution center in Athens, TN, they operate retail outlets in Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, and Alabama.
“When shopping our stores, you won’t find the same items all the time.   It is a treasure hunt of sorts,” said Tullock. “We only buy the items we can offer our customers at exceptional savings.  We now buy from many hundreds of manufacturers.   
“This allows our customer to find anything from basic food to high end gourmet items.”
Matt Storm became manager of the store in January after working at Food City for eight years.  
“We are working to improve our store with paint and elbow grease,” he explained. “The exterior was painted and the difference is amazing.  
“Our stock is s constantly updated since deliveries are made three times weekly.  We price our stock to sell quickly.”
Rebecca Case, a Seymour resident, and her family shopped at the store for the second day in a row.
“I found so many good bargains yesterday that I came back to finish shopping for my family and get some things for my mother,” she said.  “The food I bought yesterday would have cost me twice as much at another grocery store.”
The chain opened in 1974 as Bargain Barn before changing over to United Grocery Outlet to better reflect their place in the market.  The company specializes in handling inventory imbalances, closeouts, packaging changes, close dated products, factory seconds, and trial run products.  
United Grocery Outlet works with many major manufacturers including Hunt-Wesson, Coca-Cola, Nabisco, Oscar Mayer Foods Corp, Starkist, and Kellogg’s among others.  

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