Family employees, local produce, a loyal customer base. For these reasons and more, JR’s Produce is special to many in Mt. Sterling. JR’s Produce has been considered a staple by hundreds over the nearly three decades it has been open.
“It’s personal,” says Judy Townsend, a local whose family’s farm supplies sorghum to the store. “They treat everybody like family.”
James (Junior) Yarber delivered and sold produce nearly all his life. He opened the store on Indian Mound Road in 1991. But relationships mattered more than what was sold, says Patty, 63, his wife.
“It’s a gathering place,” Patty says. “You came down here and you laughed, you cried. If there was something going on with your family, we stood over in a corner and we talked and prayed and cried, whatever needed to be done.”
After Jr passed away in March, Patty ran the store on her own for six months. In September, Kyle Beckham, a local businessman, purchased JR’s Produce.
“I thought it was important to the community,” says Kyle, 42. “I had faith that as long as Patty would help me through the transition, it would be a good investment.”
In working together, Patty and Kyle have grown close.
“I think we’re a good team,” Patty says. “Jr and I were a team. And while Kyle and I will never be the same kind of team, we continue right on as a team, and I like that.”
It was Patty who insisted that Kyle change the store’s name. JR’s Produce is now Karl’s Produce. Kyle plans to keep things the same while expanding the delivery routes, modernizing the record-keeping and starting a Facebook page.
“I’m tickled to see that it’s gonna go on,” Patty says. “Even though it’s never gonna be JR’s Produce, there have been so many things that have happened that it makes me feel like the right choice was made.”