- William Bonner McCarty
William Bonner McCarty, Sr. of Jackson, Mississippi was a founder of the now defunct
Jitney Jungle (also known as the Jitney-Jungle Stores of America).About Will
¹"It was (Will) who conceived the idea, and helped coin the name of
Jitney Jungle , and who then made plans to installJitney Jungle stores all over the country." Will along with his two cousins Judson and Henry Holman opened the first Jitney-Jungle on April 19, 1919. His son William Bonner McCarty, Jr. served as Chairman of the Board and CEO of Jitney-Jungle, Incorporated.How It Began
¹"Will's father, William Henry McCarty, was a groceryman, who operated a plantation store at Rising Sun, on the banks of the Yazoo River." He later opened a store in
Jackson, Mississippi known as Jackson Mercantile Co. The original store on McTyere Street in Jackson was a converted barn. William Henry McCarty died in 1910 and two cousins of his, Judson McCarty Holman and William Henry Holman purchased the grocery from the estate. Will soon joined the partnership in 1912 after finishing law school at theUniversity of Mississippi .Jitney Jungle
Jitney Jungle was a chain of supermarkets that got its start inJackson, Mississippi , in 1919. By 1992, Jitney Jungle had over 100 stores under several names. By the mid-1990s, the New York investment firm Bruckmann, Rosser, Sherrill and Co., acquired the chain. The chain quickly became debt-ridden, and its ill-advised 1997 acquisition of Delchamps didn't help the situation. In 2000, Winn-Dixie acquired Jitney Jungle and Delchamps, and rebranded the stores to Winn-Dixie.Footnotes
¹ Holman, William Henry, Jr.. Save a Nickel on a Quarter. New York: The Newcomen Society in North America, 1974. LCCN 73-89287.
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