Since 1919, countless numbers of people have worked at Woodson’s Supermarket, and the Woodson family and staff are preparing to celebrate their 100th year.   Rob Woodson literally grew up in the business and represents the third generation in the family business.  The stories and memories that he so easily shares prompted the idea of asking you to share your memories and stories with us at wlaf@1450wlaf.com with the subject line of Woodson.  (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED – 02/28/2019-6AM)

11 Replies to “Memories and stories spring to life about Woodson’s first 100 years”

  1. I worked for the Woodson family for 10 plus years in various positions and they are some of the greatest people that I have ever had the pleasure of working for. I learned a lot about business management under Mr. Woodson & his son Rob. Can’t say enough good things about them.

  2. I met my husband of 30 years at Woodson Mall. There are so many other memories, the skating rink, Mr. Gatti’s, Jean Depot, Cruising, Santa jumping from the sky. Aww that was the good ole’ days. Congratulations on a 100 year celebration.

  3. Worked at Woodsons back in the 80’s, meet alot of great people there. Good memories. Thanks for allowing me to work for such great organization.

  4. I had the pleasure of working for the Woodson family for 12 years from 1995 to 2007 at the old Woodsons store. I am still employed at the same location under the current owner Houchens Industries. Multiple times a day you will still hear someone shopping in the store on their cell phone using that same line “I’m down here at OLD WOODSONS”. Every time I hear that line I take a little trip down memory lane. I started working at the store as a 16-year-old bagboy. I can still remember being nervous about that first real job. I can remember how busy it was…..it was nonstop from open to close. A bagboy definitely earned every dollar. I still see a lot of the same faces in the store each day. I could not even begin to explain how many people I met while working at the store. I joke all the time about how I could shop for a lot of the customers just because I have seen the same people buy the same items for the past 24 years. So many friendships came from the Old Woodson days. It is where I met one of my closest friends I ever had. He passed away a few years back but every time we talked….it never failed a story about working at Woodsons came up lol. I had the privilege of working for my brother in law Randy Comer. By far the best man ever! Kathy “sweetie” Disney and Denny Sharp were the assistant managers at the time. Both were very fine people and good to work under.
    It ended up being more than just a summer job for me. I eventually worked my way up off the bag line and into the pricing department then on to frozen dairy. I became the head buyer and sale floor manager in just a few years. Then is when I got to meet Mr. Bob Woodson. I will never have a bad word about Mr. Woodson. He was good to me. I learned a lot from him. He was one of those people you could be around for five minutes and get ten minutes of useful training. I will never forget our business trips usually to Knoxville or Nashville. So many good conversations and memories came from these. Mr.Woodson would always look at me and say “are you ready Hooks?”. I would reply with let’s do this and he would just laugh.
    I saw it all during my Woodson days. I once witnessed an employee getting married on his lunch break in the back office. I guess that was an advantage of having an ordained minister for a store manager lol. We once had a customer win a brand new Harley Davidson motorcycle from our store. I could go on and on all night about the great memories.
    We had a news crew come and do a story back in 05 or 06. I remember asking the reporter why would she do a story on a grocery store in LaFollette Tennessee? Her reply was so very simple. She stated that every time they had do a story in Campbell County the directions were simple. Either you go right past Old Woodsons or turn right before Old Woodsons.
    I am still glad Randy gave me a job. So many memories and friendships came from that opportunity. I am glad I got to work for Mr. Bob Woodson and then later on Rob Woodson. So many great things I could say about both men.

    RIP Willie Fred Halsted, Sweetie Disney, Taylor Claiborne, Randy Comer, Jason Caddell, Emmit Wison,Mikey O, Bob Woodson and all the others that are no longer with us today.

  5. I remember my Papaw Bud Paul and Pop Woodson were very good friends. Papaw was down at the store every day sitting and grabbing with Pop. Pop Woodson was one of the sweetest business men that I know. I loved going to the store on Saturdays and getting to order candy from the candy counter. Burnt raisins and maple flavored nuggets were my favorite of all the candy. Papaw would always have his suit coat pockets with little brown poke bags of burnt raisins, orange slices,maple flavored nuggets and oh course chocolate covered raisins. It was a fun place to visit in my younger days with Papa Paul. Such precious memories from Woodson’s Cash Store in downtown La Follette

  6. My Papaw Bud Paul and Pop Woods on were very good friends. Papaw would take us to town on Saturday and let us buy candy from Woodson’s Cash Store candy counter. I loved the burnt raisins, maple nuggets and the chocolate covered raisins. Of course Papaw always came home with his suit pockets filled with candies in those little brown pokes. Down town was a great place on Saturdays for us children

  7. My son Jesse Johnson worked at Woods on Mall in 2003 and 2004. When Jesse passed away suddenly in May 2004 the staff and Mr. Rob Woodson were so incredible caring toward my family they hung yellow ribbons in Jesse’s honor. At the customer service desk. They prayed for us sent food, and flowers. It was a wonderful feeling knowing my son worked with wonderful people

  8. Johnny worked for them as a young man. We also met in Woodsons parking lot driving around and the rest is history. We bought our first groceries for our home at Woodsons.

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