PROGRESS 2018— For many families, making time to see each other can be a challenge, made complicated by everyone’s busy schedules. For the Keeton family of Red Bay, family time is almost a daily occurrence, as Hal, wife Shala, daughter Holly and son Casey all work together in the family business.

Hal and Shala Keeton purchased the Big Star in Red Bay from Hal’s father Hoyt in 1997. Hal’s grandfather, Lonzo, began the family tradition in the grocery business in downtown Red Bay.

Hal remembers stories about Hoyt delivering groceries when he was 12 years old, working for Lonzo. It’s a family legacy Hal is proud to continue. “Of course, the grocery business has changed a lot since then,” Hal said. “They had two deliveries a day, delivering to people in town. And at that time they had live chickens in the back of the store, in a coop. The lady would order a chicken, and she would get a live chicken, the head poked through a paper sack and its feet tied up with a rope. They would set it on the front porch as they entered the house to deliver the lady’s groceries. Most of the time he got the enjoyment to wring the chicken’s neck on his way back out.”

Hoyt later became president of Keeton Oil and Southern Grocers – Hal remembers his childhood accompanying his father to check on the family convenience stores – and Hoyt bought the Red Bay Big Star in 1989.

Hal first met Shala in Belmont in the early 1980s. It was love at first sight, but the two dated for five years before marrying in 1986. In the early years of marriage, they both worked in Keeton Oil, but it’s been all about the grocery business since 1997, when they bought the Red Bay Big Star from Hoyt. They added the Russellville location in 2016. “My family has been in the grocery business in Franklin County for four generations,” Hal said.

They have two children: Casey, who is now 27, and Holly, 24.

“I think we were very blessed growing up,” Holly said. “We grew up in a great family. I have never seen my parents argue, and a lot of people don’t have that. They were always doing fun things with us.” Casey added, “They never missed any of our sporting events.”

Casey was always involved in athletics growing up, including football and golf. Holly was a dedicated cheerleader and was named Homecoming Queen.

One particular expression of family devotion stands out in Holly’s mind, from her eighth-grade year when she was named to the Homecoming Court. “My mother had just found out she had breast cancer,” Holly said. “They wanted to do her surgery the following Friday, the night of homecoming. I wanted her to go ahead and have surgery that day, but she wouldn’t. She wouldn’t miss that ballgame.”

Both Keeton children worked in the store growing up, whether it was weekends, summers or afternoons after school. Casey came on full time in 2009 following his high school graduation from Red Bay. Holly started full time in April 2017 after attending the Paul Mitchell The School in Huntsville and running her own salon in Red Bay for a few years.

“I always enjoyed it when I worked here during high school, but I always thought I would be interested in hair, too,” Holly said. Although she enjoyed the salon, she ultimately decided to return to Big Star. “I just missed being in the family business.”

Family togetherness is easy to come by. Each family member steps up and is all in for the business, whatever needs to be done at the store – whether it’s covering for an employee who called in sick, managing business operations or helping make chocolate covered strawberries in the bakery. “We all pitch in,” said Shala. She is formally the company secretary, although she fills a variety of roles. Hal is company president. Holly is store manager in Red Bay and Casey is store manager in Russellville.

“I just like interacting with the customers – talking to them, joking with them,” Casey said. “It’s just something I really enjoy.”

Outside of Big Star, going to church together at the First United Methodist Church has always been a family priority. Family beach vacations – to Orange Beach or Destin – are a tradition the Keetons continue even now, when they can get away from the grocery business long enough to make it happen.

Hal and Shala are both active in the Alabama Emmaus Community, and Shala is a member of the board of directors for the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce.

Holly and husband Blake Bullen, who is safety manager for Sunshine Mills’ corporate office, have a 3-year-old son, Keeton. “He’s my world,” Holly said. “He’s sweet and loving, but he can be rowdy, too.” Balls and monster trucks are his toys of choice, and he loves visiting “ShaSha and PawPaw’s” house.

Hal said he always hoped his children would want to be a part of the family legacy in the grocery business.

“I wanted them to, but I wanted them to make sure it was what they wanted to do,” Hal said. “If you’re not happy with what you’re doing, it’s not going to be a very good thing.”