BUCHHEIT TO OPEN 'OLD GENERAL STORE' IN JACKSON

JACKSON -- Building materials, hardware, farm products, work clothing and general merchandise -- items found in general stores of yore -- will be under roof when Buchheit's opens in Jackson later this year.

The business will be located at 2801 S. Old Orchard Road, next to the McDowell South auto dealership.

Buchheit Inc. is a 65-year-old family-owned company based in Biehle. Jackson will be home to the company's sixth store, which will employ 80 to 100 people.

Other stores are at Perryville, Herculaneum, and Sparta and Jacksonville in Illinois.

Jim Meyer, Buchheit's design and construction manager, said construction of the 60,000- to 70,000-square-foot building will begin early this year.

More than 65,000 items of merchandise will be carried.

"Buchheit's is determined to offer area customers a wide assortment of quality merchandise," said Tim Buchheit, company president. "We are excited about the convenience the Jackson location will offer our existing customers."

The first Buchheit store was founded in Biehle by Rudy Buchheit in 1934 during the Depression.

Buchheit had left the family farm, bought a truck and started hauling livestock, hay and corn from Perry County to St. Louis.

He entered the grocery business that year by paying $25 a month toward the purchase of a former saloon building.

Buchheit recalls stocking the store with $250 worth of groceries to include 50 gallons of salted herring, 50 pounds of flour, 100 pounds of sugar, 100 pounds of white beans, 280 pounds of salt and some hand-ground coffee beans.

A few hardware items were added along the way, and Buchheit began selling livestock feed in floral-print bags, which women used to make clothing.

"I poured everything back into the business," said Buchheit. "We ate well, but didn't make any money. I didn't take a salary until the late '50s."

Buchheit raised his 11 children and a step-child in a house next to the store, which kept growing as customers came from as far as St. Louis.

The Buchheit company logo is a wagon wheel, which symbolizes the teamwork Buchheit says it took for his company to expand. Employees are referred to as team members.