Jitney Jungle

Jitney Jungle was a chain of supermarkets that began in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1919. It was a private Forbes 500 company and one of the largest privately held grocery store chains in the United States. It was acquired by Winn-Dixie in 2000.

Originally, brothers Judson McCarty Holman and William Henry Holman and their cousin William Bonner McCarty founded a grocery store in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1912. Over the next few years, they opened additional stores, but in 1916, one of their stores found itself unable to collect the amounts owed by some of its customers, and the idea of changing over to a cash-and-carry business model began to take root. While W. H. Holman was away serving in World War I, his brother and cousin decided to change over to cash-and-carry, and after he returned from the war, they opened the first Jitney Jungle on East Capitol Street in Jackson on 19 April 1919.

The three patented the Jitney Jungle concept in 1920, but were soon hit with a patent infringement lawsuit brought by Piggly Wiggly. To disprove the infringement allegations, Will McCarty made a trip west and found cash-and-carry stores there, which contradicted Piggly Wiggly's assertion that it had originated the idea. The Supreme Court found in Jitney Jungle's favor.

The chain gradually expanded across Mississippi and into neighboring states, eventually ending up with stores as far away as Florida. In 1973, the chain had 38 grocery stores, six gasoline stations, and five drugstores, and by 1992, Jitney Jungle had over 100 stores.

In the 1960s, a convenience store subsidiary, Jr. Food Mart, was formed. All the Jr. Food Mart stores sold gasoline and groceries. The subsidiary is still in operation. Many of the stores have fast service restaurants featuring Creole Fried Chicken. Jr. Food Mart operates convenience stores in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, and formerly operated locations in Arkansas as well. In 1965, Jitney made the most important step of the decade by joining Topco, a national, cooperatively owned purchasing association that wielded as much purchasing power as the largest supermarket chains. The move made it possible for Jitney to purchase grade-A foodstuffs and related merchandise at competitive prices.

Jitney Fresh Markets, a grocery chain in Southern California is not related to the former Jitney Jungle Stores of America.

In the mid-90s the family sold Jitney Jungle to New York investment firm Bruckmann, Rosser, Sherrill & Co. for $400 million. By the end of 90’s, the chain had become debt-ridden from mismanagement, and its ill-advised 1997 acquisition of Delchamps. In 2000, Winn-Dixie acquired Jitney Jungle and Delchamps, and rebranded the stores to Winn-Dixie.

In 2005, Winn-Dixie closed many stores, including most of its stores in Mississippi that had previously been Jitney Jungle stores. Some of these stores remain closed, with no particular prospects of being acquired and reopened. Others have taken on new lives.