Country Mart

In 1919, John Ramey bought a small grocery store in Springfield, Missouri, with his mustering out pay from the Army. It was a small neighborhood grocery store which proved to be successful and, eventually, he expanded to a total of eight small stores. In 1939, Ramey boldly established the first modern Supermarket in this area. It was located in an... empty field outside of town. People thought he was "crazy". Instead, this turned out to be one of the most successful ventures in the food business for this area. During the war, it was difficult to obtain merchandise for all eight stores, so Ramey consolidated all of his stores into this one Supermarket and permanently closed the other small locations. This transition marked an important milestone in Ramey history. In 1946, John Ramey sold his one Supermarket to two gentleman from Kansas City. These men followed with a second Ramey Supermarket in 1954, another one in 1957, and one more in 1965. All of which were located in Springfield. On January 15, 1967, the former ownership sold out to a new corporation, the Cohen family through Roswil, Inc., which was taking its first venture into the Supermarket industry. Initially, under the management of Richard Taylor, the small chain of stores grew out of southwest Missouri by acquisition and consolidation in rural markets. Richard Taylor transitioned the management of Ramey to his son Erick in 1993. Erick Taylor and the employees of Roswil continued to expand the company through a combination of acquisition and new store development. As part of this process, Ramey converted stores to the Price Cutter banner, primarily in the metropolitan Springfield, Missouri area. The new store expansion combined with the Price Cutter format, substantially increased overall market penetration. Today, RPCS, Inc. operates 37 stores throughout Southwest Missouri and parts of Kansas. The company has successfully transformed itself into a multi-bannered regional chain, providing customers with new facilities, full-service departments, more ...Read More