For more than two decades, Wise Buys, located at 509 Pearl St., has been offering Marion County residents with great food and drinks at amazing prices.
How do they sell those tasty steaks at half the cost of others? Some may think Wise Buys simply stocks its shelves with expired food, but that is far from reality, according to store manager Bradley Broughton.
“My dad has been developing contacts for this for the past 20-plus years from coast to coast,” he said. “We stock all of your favorite brands, a lot of hard to find items and a lot of items you can’t find in this particular region. We do that by being able to pull from the East Coast, the West Coast, the Southern region, really all over the U.S. and even Hawaii to bring in all sorts of different items. We get a lot of those items from store resets, overstocks, store buyouts, inventory changes, items that may not have sold particularly well in a certain region of the country, pallets that may have experienced some sort of exterior damage where the first-line grocery store refused the whole pallet, so we’re able to buy all these things at a discount and sell the items at a discount. I think a lot of people when they think about a discount or salvage grocery store, they think of just a bunch of dented cans and out-of-date food. That may have been what it once was, but that’s not what we do here. We do have some food that is close to or just past the better by date, but the majority of what we stock on the shelves is food that is in date and in perfect condition. We just have these great sources and are able to get the items at a good price.”
Bradley’s parents, David and Joy Broughton, founded the discount grocery store in 1994 that has continued to grow since opening.
“We are a discount and specialty grocery store with a 14,000-square-feet retail space,” Bradley said. “Half of that is devoted to shelved groceries and the other half has about 60 large, glass-top freezers for our frozen food.”
Bradley grew up in the business and began managing the store five years ago.
“I grew up working in the business,” he explained. “When your family owns a business, you grow up working for the business. I worked throughout high school and then in between college and law school. I graduated from law school at the University of Alabama in 2012, then I started working here full-time and managing it.”
One of the pillars of Wise Buys is its quality of frozen foods, especially its restaurant quality meats.
“A large portion of the business comes from our frozen food,” Bradley said. “We have contracts with the largest frozen food manufactures in the world. We do a lot of food that is meant for famous restaurants, so we buy from the same suppliers that different restaurants use; it’s the same exact food they sell. We have different items that everyone has eaten at a restaurant and it’s the same items here for way less. You just prepare the food yourself, and you can save a lot of money that way. For example, a lot of the chicken that we get comes in five-pound bags, so we’re able to sell it at a discount because of the size, but also because we buy it in such large quantities. It’s a restaurant -quality chicken that’s a step above what you can buy at most grocery stores.”
It has always been in Bradley’s DNA to search for the best deals, and he uses that in order to offer Wise Buys’ customers the best deals in the area.
“I’ve always been a shopper, and I’m a bargain shopper,” he said. “I don’t really care how much money I have; I’m always looking for a discount. I love being able to sell things for less than anyone else. I guess I’m competitive in that way. I like to beat other places on the price and be able to pass those savings onto the customers. I love interacting with customers and when they tell me that they’re amazed at what they got for $100, they’re really appreciative of it and complimentary. That’s really nice to know that people are able to feed their whole family for less than they would anywhere else.”
One of the newest additions to Wise Buys products comes from a local dairy farm.
“One of our newer things we’re excited about is being able to bring in the Country Girl’s Creamery items,” Bradley said. “It comes from a dairy in Lumberton and is really good, so that is one of our most popular items. We price the milk, chocolate milk, cheese and yogurt lower than anyone else, so we really can’t order enough.”
On top of its amazing prices, Wise Buys strives to help its customers in any way possible.
“We treat all of our customers like family,” Bradley said. “I would say we have the friendliest staff of anywhere around here. We stop to speak with you and help you with anything that you need. I think I get being a people person from my grandmother, Linda Williams. She always told me to treat everybody like they’re somebody, so I take that with me to work every day. We think here that everybody should feel welcomed and treated with kindness and respect, so we have a lot of loyal customers that have been shopping with us since we first had a gravel parking lot.”
Wise Buys is committed to continuing its tradition of having quality items at a discount rate.
“We are always just looking to find better prices on better quality items,” Bradley said. “We have the space and are in constant contact with suppliers and brokers all over the country. We’re focused on getting items that you can’t get somewhere else and selling items at a price you can’t get somewhere else. That is a constant job and that’s what we’re always looking to do now and in the future.”
Wise Buys has a very active Facebook presence, posting new items, coupons and giveaways to go along with its VIP text program. The text program allows customers to receive updates on new shipments, special sales and coupons sent directly to their phone once or twice a week. Customers can join the program by texting “Wisebuys” to 54900.
Earlier this year, Wise Buys extended its hours of operation and is open from 8:30 a.m. until 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
“We had always been open until 5:30 p.m., but earlier this year we extended our hours to 6 p.m.,” Bradley said. “We had a lot of requests for that from people who worked until 5 p.m. They would come in, but they would not want us to stay late and they would feel bad, so they felt rushed. That’s why we extended our hours to 6 p.m. to give them that extra half hour, and we’ve had a lot of good feedback from that.”
Wise Buys can be reached by phone at (601) 736-1150 and on Facebook, where it answers customer messages within hours.
Pictured Above: Betty Brown, center, and Bradley Broughton, right, assist a customer at the register. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
