Cape residents reminisce about south side store that was razed this week

The store at 1007 South Sprigg has operated under a variety of names, but for many South Cape Girardeau residents, only one name comes to mind -- Ratliff's Grocery.

For the first time in over 75 years, the property now stands empty.

As demolition of the store progressed this week, community members continuously stopped to watch mournfully and share their memories of the store.

One block up the street, Jeff Barton sat on his porch sharing his memories of the store owner, Juanita Ratliff.

Like most other store patrons, Barton knew her as "Mrs. Ratliff," and reminisced about riding in her Lincoln Continental to attend the Church of God on Big Bend Road and stocking store shelves to earn money for movie tickets.

"She really set me up to be the man that I am," Barton said. "I loved what the woman taught me out of life, and really, taught my work ethic."

In the fall of 1950, Ratliff opened the first Ratliff's Grocery in Smelterville, and in 1952, the store moved to 2106 South Sprigg. After a series of floods, the store moved once again to its final home at 1007 South Sprigg where it served as an institution in south Cape Girardeau.

Many fondly remembered stopping in to get penny candies on their way home from the nearby May Greene School. Ratliff's son, Carlos Ratliff, remembers the store's signature sandwiches becoming a lunchtime favorite for the May Greene teachers. According to Carlos, Mrs. Ratliff would never let them pay.

Carlos's wife, Emmagene Ratliff, remembered her mother-in-law's determination to give and care for others.

"She had one customer that was bedfast," Emmagene said. "[Mrs. Ratliff] would not only deliver her food; she would care for that lady after having locked up [the store] at 9 o'clock."

All recounts of Ratliff's Grocery described a store with an atmosphere where its humanitarian concerns far outweighed its economic ones. Ratliff's grandson, Mike Ratliff, said its an attitude rarely seen today.

"Today, you go in and you're just another customer -- another face, another line in the checkout stand. You can go and you sometimes don't even see the attendant; you just go through the self-checkout lines," Mike said. "Back then, [Mrs. Ratliff] knew her clients."

Mike, Carlos and Emmagene all recalled the outpouring of support shown by community members as Ratliff's health began to deteriorate after becoming unable to operate the store in 1997, with many paying off store credit despite Ratliff having long forgotten the debts.

Mrs. Ratliff died in 1999. In 2003, Walter White opened the Ole Country Store at the site which operated as late as 2010 before standing vacant and dilapidating.

"I'm glad its gone, because it's not what Mom would've had," Carlos said.

The property's newest owner, Councilwoman Shelly Moore, said it didn't feel right to see the store in a degraded condition, and razed the structure with hopes of rebuilding a store at the location in honor of the late store owner.

"She took care of the neighborhood," Moore said. "Even if you couldn't pay, she would give you chances to pay her on credit. I want to honor her by putting something there."