Opinion: My Two Cents-Some Businesses are Harder to Say Goodbye to

Then there are those who leave a mark when they’re gone due to how much a part of the community they have become. Oliver’s Corner Market on North Brinton Avenue in Dixon is one North side residence that will remember long after it is gone sometime before Easter. 

For the owners, Tim and Patty Oliver, working in a grocery store is where their lives together started. They met in the nearly 1980s when they both worked at what was a SuperValu that turned into an A&P grocery store on Dixon’s south side. A Dollar Store sits where those stores once stood.

Oliver’s has been around long enough that the 16-year-olds they hired that first year in business are now in their 50s and have grandchildren. Many of the teenagers who have worked behind the checkout or elsewhere in the building were the couple’s own children, nieces, and nephews. I have fond memories of our son walking over to the store to meet his first serious girlfriend when she finished her shift at Oliver’s. That girl was one of Patty Oliver’s nieces.

Since 1987, Oliver’s has become known for its meat department, hot lunches, and salad bar that are intertwined with the rest of the grocery store. Starting in the early 1990s, the store has been a fundraising machine for local groups through its Saturday lunch cookouts from early Spring to Early Fall. For some groups, a cookout can raise as much as $2,500 in just a few hours, according to Tim Oliver. 

It was those Saturday cookouts that first drew my family to the store. Oliver’s Corner Market sits between our home and the soccer fields at the Meadows on Washington Avenue. We were never disappointed. 

As someone who has made it a point to go to cookouts for a charity or a group I support, I’m glad that Dixon’s County Market has agreed to take over the program. My hope is that it will be as successful as it has been at Oliver’s Corner Market. That would be a legacy the Olivers would be proud of.

And Then Some….

The small trash container just outside the front door to Coffee Crush in Dixon no longer has flowers. It has straw, and it is ready for the duck that has been laying eggs there for the past few years. The hope is that the duck will return, lay its eggs, and surprise unsuspecting visitors.

The location would seem to be a poor place to hatch eggs since people come and go during business hours. Yet, for about three years now, the duck has returned. I’m sure I’m not the only one looking forward to seeing its return.

For the full story about Oliver’s closing, click here.