Prowers County Market a family’s labor of love – expected opening is late spring

The Brown family poses in front of what will soon be the Prowers County Market, Inc. – left to right are: Susan, Felicity, Elliott, Elizabeth and Landon Brown

The unexpected, abrupt announcement last September that the Lamar Safeway store at 906 E. Olive Street would be closing permanently on November 7, shocked a community who had been faithful shoppers for many years. Immediately, the closure was the subject of many conversations, which led to rampant rumors about what would become of the store and dismay over where quality groceries could be purchased locally.  Little did anyone know about what was set into motion even before that announcement was made public. It can be called fate, kismet or just the universe smiling down on a family with a 6-generation history in the grocery business.

When Prowers County Market, Inc. opens its doors in that location later this spring, it will be a celebration of more than just the opening of a new business, one which is a celebration in and of itself – it will represent a homecoming for a family with a rich history of grocers on both sides of the family. F.B. Becquet took over the Lamar location at 906 E. Olive in 1970 – first as IGA and Orchard Plaza and finally as the original Prowers County Market.  When he retired in 1998, he sold the store to Safeway.  The recent purchase from Safeway, made official on Friday, February 20, by the Brown family, completed the full circle evolution of the store at this location.  F.B’s daughter, Denise Brown and her husband Hugh, who also comes from a multi-generational grocery family are supporting their son Landon and his wife Elizabeth as the store’s new owners.  I met the family at the store after the closing to get to know them and learn about their future plans for the store.  Immediately, I was struck by their strong sense of family, the fun they have together and the very-obvious love they have for the Prowers County area.

How this purchase came to be is a story in and of itself.  Landon has long wanted to have his own store, continuing the legacy that began long before he was even born.  He and Elizabeth met in a choir class at Oral Roberts University and Elizabeth says one of the first things he told her (at age 19) was that he was majoring in business and wanted to go into the grocery business “like my parents and grandpa”.  Along the way to having his own store, Landon worked in the family business in various capacities, including being the General Manager of the First Choice Market in Walsenburg. He also had a career in project management, but all along was scouting for potential stores to make his own.  None of the stores he looked at throughout the Midwest felt just right. In mid-2025, he says, he was discussing the issue with his father who then asked what kind of store would be right.  Landon thought for a moment and then replied “like Grandpa’s store in Lamar”.  He says “I never thought that less than a year later, we would be closing on that very store”!  When Hugh learned that Safeway was planning to close the Lamar location (even before it was announced), he immediately contacted them, saying “We want to buy back the store our family sold you in 1998” and with a handshake, an agreement was made.

Landon attended school in Wiley from 4^th grade until he left for college, all the while working alongside his family in H.B.’s store.  He and his parents had several humorous stories to share about the family business, including Landon and his brother sleeping in sleeping bags on the grocery checkout belts  as young boys while their parents and grandparents worked the store overnight.  In grade school, Landon wrote a story about what it was like being in a grocery store at night as part of a class assignment.  He says he and his brother roamed through the store imagining, as young kids do, ordinary things becoming scary.  He said coming around the corner in dim lighting and coming face-to-face with Captain Crunch’s face on a cereal box at eye level was one of those moments, as was one when his brother reenacted a scene from Jurassic Park “making sounds like a velociraptor” and jumping out from behind a door..  I learned from him that marshmallows expanded with the temperature changes at night, causing bags to occasionally “walk off the shelves and fall to the floor” making weird sounds, adding to the delighted and imagined “terror” the boys felt as they roamed the dark aisles.

Both Landon and Elizabeth stressed that they are centered on the community’s “ownership” in the store.  “This store is for them (the customers). We are merely the custodians of it” said Landon.  Elizabeth joked “I’d love to add an apostrophe in the name, making it ‘Prowers County’s Market’ because it truly is for the community.  We want to carry products the customers want to buy and will be asking for their input”. The couple wants to focus on the future – a strong local economy, a reliable shopping experience, and a store built with the kind of care only a hometown team can deliver.  The store is structurally sound and since it was recently vacated, most changes will be cosmetic.  They have asked their décor team to come up with a design that is something unique.  “We want the store to be the best reflection of the community and want the décor to be a love letter to them (the community)’ said Landon.

They have ambitious plans to aim for an early May opening.  “We’re going to start going gangbusters on Monday to get it open as quickly as possible because y’all need it” said Elizabeth.  Landon added that getting the store stocked and open is the first priority, and that there will still be finish work to do, including the façade.  “Our kids will probably be painting the break rooms even after we open” he said with a laugh.  All three of the youngest Brown generation will be involved in the store’s operation in some capacity.  Oldest daughter Susan, a 9^th grader, was positively bubbling over with excitement during our interview, saying she wanted to be a cashier, a stocker “or even a custodian….I don’t care.  I just really can’t wait to work here!” she said.  Son Elliott (7^th grade) and daughter Felicity (4^th grade) also plan to be involved in their own ways.

The family also owns grocery stores in Kansas and the one in Walsenburg and gets its products from Affiliated Foods in Amarillo, which is a wholesale grocery cooperative, enabling them to use collective buying power.  The Lamar store will offer fresh produce, quality meats and deli items, fresh flowers and in-house donuts, cakes and freshly-baked breads in the bakery department. They are hoping to be able to offer pharmacy services at some point after the store opens.

Don’t expect to peek into the store during the renovation, as the windows will be covered as the store awaits its big reveal.  Local contractors will be utilized in the renovation, as the family believes in keeping business local, including banking.  Prioritizing and balancing what has to be done to get the store open versus things that can wait will be part of their game plan. They are estimating that they will have at least 30 store employees.  As an independent store, they are able to offer plastic shopping bags and will do so without charging a per-bag fee. The store wants to be conscious of the environment, so they will have bins in the store where used bags can be dropped off to be recycled.

The store’s original post office box number from F.B.’s day was available and will be the store’s official mailing address and they are hoping to be able to get the original phone number for the store as well, truly completing the circle of the store’s life.  The family will be very evident throughout the store on a daily basis. “We want to be able to show customers the fun our family will  have with this business” said Landon. “Our family history is nestled into this community”.

Welcome back to the community, Prowers County Market and the Brown family.  We’ve been waiting for you!

By: Barbara Crimond