Town loses only store after 160 years in business
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SAULSBURY, Tenn. — For the first time in more than 160 years, a town in Hardeman County will be without a place to shop. Taylor’s Food Rite is the last shop in Saulsbury to close. “We now have nowhere to go,” resident John Whige Jr. said. “We need somewhere.” It’s an eerie feeling for some in the town of Saulsbury. “They can’t even come here and get a soda,” Bill Higgs said. “They took the drink machine. They could have at least left that.” The parking lots once filled with eager customers now have become ghostly. “They didn’t say anything about closing. One day they just shut down,” Whige said. “They didn’t let anybody know anything, not even the employees. They just closed.” Residents said they now will have to take at least a 20-minute trek in order to just buy a carton of milk, which some say is not fair to the elderly. “The old people here used to walk to the store here in Saulsbury,” Higgs said. “Now they have nowhere to go, and I know how they feel about it.” With nothing in the works to replace Taylor’s, residents are worried they may lose the convenience of a local shop forever. “We need another Food Rite. We need another store here,” Whige said. According to city officials, the abrupt closure could cost them a 20 percent hit on tax revenue.
