Brian King’s grandparents didn’t take many vacations when they were younger. They would gather at their small-town gourmet shop, the very first Mark’s Mart in the late 1970s, and spend time as a family running the cash register and making friends with countless customers.

“Being with my granddad, sitting at the register, drinking a slushie, eating an ice cream sandwich, being able to go grab anything off the candy aisle — it’s just that family environment I grew up with. It’s really cool to see my kids run around and sit outside eating ice cream while seeing other families come into the shop with their kids. When you live in a small town like Selma, it takes you an hour to get out of the store because you’re having little conversations with guests,” King reminisced.

King is the owner of

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