Marvin's to close in Gravette

Photo by Dodie Evans Management at Marvin's confirmed Monday that the longtime Gravette business would soon be closing.
Photo by Dodie Evans Management at Marvin's confirmed Monday that the longtime Gravette business would soon be closing.

GRAVETTE -- A business that has been part of Gravette since its beginning, more than a century ago, is closing its doors.

Announcement was made this week that Marvin's Grocery Store is in the process of closing its store in Gravette after operating it for more than 20 years.

The Marvin's chain of stores purchased the business from the McAllister family in 1989.

Chuck Combs, spokesman for the Marvin's/CVS operation, headquartered in Van Buren, confirmed the closing Monday of this week.

"We are in the process of closing the operation," Combs said.

He was not specific about when the business would officially close but indications are the process will begin almost immediately.

The company operates 22 Marvin's stores in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Kansas and 14 CVS store operations. The Gravette store employs more than 20 people.

The McAllister family began their businesses in Gravette almost at its inception in 1893 and opened their grocery store here in 1904, about the time the final "e" was added to the town's name.

McAllister's originally operated their grocery business on Main Street, eventually expanding their operation to include livestock feed, dry goods, hardware and furniture, as well as a lumber yard.

They moved into a new "superstore" building one block south in the early 1970s, which they continued using until its sale in 1989.

Marvin's maintained a multi-business operation for several years, finally closing the hardware and lumber departments. The grocery business was continued as an IGA operation.

With closing of the grocery, the only remaining business in Gravette which dates to the town's beginning is the Bank of Gravett -- the final "e" was never added to the bank's name. Chartered in 1898, it is recognized as the oldest bank in Benton County.

The only other long-lasting Gravette business which began in the one-year-old town in 1894 was The Gravette News Herald which merged with newspapers in Gentry and Decatur in 2010 to become the Westside Eagle Observer, which operates from its offices on Main Street in Gravette.

General News on 04/09/2014