The "The Best Darned Baked Oatmeal and Apple Dumplings" Story

Stauffer's along the Lancaster-Lititz Toll Road in the early 1930s.

It was an ordinary day.  Standing in line with my container of apple dumplings, plastic bag with two bunches of asparagus and container of baked strawberry oatmeal.  The sign above the cash register says: 6 items or less, and I meet the demand from the store.  The line I'm going through is located in the Stauffer's of Kissel Hill store along Oregon Pike in Lancaster, PA.  

Another view of the stand with farmland in the background.

The store is about half a mile from my house and is perfect for small quantities of groceries and other items.  Stauffer's was founded in 1932 along the Lititz Pike when the road was still known as the Lancaster-Lititz Toll Road.  The popularity of the store is still the same as it was over 80 years ago.  The owners of the chain of stores, Roy and Florence Stauffer, decided to leave Roy's father's fruit farm and begin a new market on Kissel Hill, a mile or so south of the town of Lititz, PA.  

The stand now is the home to Corporate Headquarters
for the Stauffer's of Kissel Hill Stores.

The stand began to grow in both size and in the products they offered for sale.  They had such an abundance of fruits and vegetables that they also sold them at nearby markets such as Roots and Green Dragon, both Lancaster County farmer's markets.  In the 1950s a new development known as "Mayfield" sprung up near their stand in Kissel Hill.  

This is their Lititz Pike Store near their headquarters.

People began to call the area Mayfield so the Staffers painted a big sign stating that: "This is Kissel Hill" so people would still know where Stauffers of Kissel Hill was located.  They eventually replaced their steps into their market with ramps, but the ramps were too steep and the shopping carts sometimes would take off across the parking lot.  So, they added hand brakes to their shopping carts.  In 1964 the market that I am now standing in was created along with a lawn and garden section.  

An aerial view taken from their website showing their
Lititz Pike store and garden center. 

Since then super sized grocery stores have been built by Stauffer's along the Lititz Pike, near their original store and also in Roherstown, PA. In 1986 fire destroyed the store in Roherstown and it was replaced with what has been said is the biggest supermarket in Lancaster County.  Today Stauffers employs close to 1000 employees and is ranked in the top 50 in the nation for garden centers.  The reason I shop at Stauffers is to buy the items that they make themselves such as the apple dumplings, fresh baked goods and baked oatmeal.  Anxious to get home and pop one of the dumplings in the microwave and then pour milk over it.  Great lunch!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.