Campbell store stocks candy, neighborhood memories

The rusted 1950s sign on the front of Eastbrook Grocery suggests an older store, though it’s only been open for two months.

Thanks to new owners, this fixture of a Campbell County community is now seeing new life.

Larry and Joanne Kimball at first didn’t plan to reopen the Eastbrook Grocery store, which had been vacant for more than two years.

They planned to turn the building into a candy store, with the focus on Kimball’s Fudge, which they had already been selling on their Web site. “I always wanted to open up a candy store,” Joanne Kimball explained.

But plans changed after they discovered they’d stumbled upon a store that was considered an “icon” to the small community. It’s located at 3215 Eastbrook Road, just down from U.S. 501 in Campbell County, near the city line.

When the Kimballs brought over a tractor to clear debris from the site, it wasn’t long before the neighbors showed up, said Larry Kimball.

Some were worried about condos since the 600-square-foot store sat on about 10 acres. Others wanted to know if he was changing the name.

After finding out how much the store meant to the community, the Kimballs decided to reopen the store. The neighbors, Larry Kimball said, “were thrilled when we kept it as a grocery store.”

Eastbrook Grocery first opened in 1943, when it was called J.C. Dinkins Grocery.

J.C. Dinkins built the store himself, partly with timber he had cut down right across the street from Eastbrook Baptist Church.

The Kimballs attended the same church while surveying the property on a Sunday in August. They met Jimmy Dinkins at the door.

“I told them my daddy built (the store) and we became pretty good friends,” Dinkins said.

Dinkins said his father had sold the store in 1954. The next owner added on the house, where the Kimballs currently live.

Other than that, though, little has changed.

“It looks exactly the way I remember it, “said Dinkins, “the cold-case counter, the shelves … it looks just the way it did when (my father) owned it.”

The Kimballs kept the original shelving and refrigeration. Luckily, said Larry Kimball, “everything was able to be repaired.”

Stocking the store, said Larry Kimball, wasn’t too difficult. He knocked on a few doors asking what people would like to have in the store.

Eastbrook Grocery carries most common goods such as canned foods, cleaning supplies, sodas, ice creams, candy and, of course, the fudge.

Joanne Kimball makes her fudge in a commercial kitchen inside a nearby trailer. The flavors include maple, white chocolate and raspberry cream.

That’s the only difference Kim Spencer has noticed. She said she grew up with the store, buying candy and ice cream there as a child.

Now a new generation is growing up with Eastbrook Grocery.

Kids from the neighborhood use the grocery as a sort of bus stop, waiting inside at a dining room table in the corner until their school bus arrives in the mornings.

The Kimballs said the kids enjoy sampling the fudge.

They plan to stock items based on what people buy or request. The only requests they haven’t adhered to, though, are for cigarettes and alcohol.

Which is fine by the Rev. Charlie Spencer, of the Eastbrook Baptist church. “That’s great because they’re promoting clean … Christian living.”

Spencer said, “(The store) is an asset to the community. You can run and get a loaf of bread … it’s convenient.”

He added, “(Joanne Kimball) makes a mighty fine fudge, too.”