L&S Foodland, Athens only home-owned and home-operated supermarket, has been serving the community for more than 57 years. The grocer first opened its doors on Aug. 14, 1953.

The Smith family, including brothers Harold C. Smith and Billy Gaines Smith started the business. Their sons, Dick Smith and Billy Smith, have carried on the family tradition. The Smith family says it is committed to Limestone County. Dick said residents might be interested in knowing the store burned to the ground July 30, 1971, and was reopened three months later on Nov. 1, 1971.

L&S Foodland, managed by Crutcher Smith and Lee Gordon, has 17 employees.

Dick Smith said he couldn’t venture to guess how many patrons a month come through the doors of L&S.

He admitted the economy has hurt business, with industries like the chicken plant shutting down. However, he said residents have remained loyal.

As times have changed, so has L&S Foodland. “We actually have a Web page at landsonline.com,” Dick said. “We run our specials there and also have a personal shopper page where people can e-mail their shopping list. We can have their groceries ready for them to pick up. They can pay by PayPal and don’t even have to get out of their car.”

The website guides shoppers through not only the personal shopper, but also weekly specials, online coupons, weekly recipes, and the produce, grocery and meat departments.

L&S Foodland has a butcher, Dale McDaniel, on-site and all their meat is cut fresh daily.

For more information, visit L&S Foodland at www.landsonline.com.