Abraham’s Grocery Store
The first Abraham’s Grocery Store was started in 1967 by Bill Abraham and his sister Doris. They
used a small inheritance to start a small grocery store in a suburb of Atlanta,
Georgia, and it was immediately successful. The location was good, and both Bill and Doris had
winning personalities and a “serve the customer” attitude. Abraham’s rapidly growing number
of customers enjoyed an abundance of good meats and produce, for which Abraham’s became
well known.
By 2007, Abraham’s had over 200 stores. Company headquarters moved to downtown Atlanta
to supervise stores throughout the southeastern United States. There were four regional
managers responsible for about 50 stores each. Within each region, there were four districts of
12 to 13 stores each. Because the stores specialized in excellent meats and produce, there was
a separate meat department manager, grocery department manager, and produce department
manager within each store. The grocery department manager also served as the store manager,
but this person did not have direct authority over the meat department or the produce
department. The store meat department manager reported directly to a district meat manager
specialist, and the store produce department manager reported directly to a district produce
manager specialist. The store manager (who is also the grocery department manager) reported
directly to a district store supervisor. This direct line of authority for each store department
provided excellent quality control over the meat, produce, and grocery departments within
