Steve Carroll has been here for awhile.
When the Oaks Mall Hallmark store closes at the end of the month, Chick-fil-A will be one of the mall’s oldest independently owned stores. Amid gaping department stores and budding boutiques, Carroll’s fried chicken heaven remains afloat.
The beloved restaurant opened in February 1978 and was one of the mall’s original stores. It was the 78th store in a franchise chain of now more than 1,500 locations.
“I don’t really like it — I’ve just been here for 37 years,” Carroll said jokingly on Thursday.
Carroll has seen the mall grow from two to three to five department stores. He’s moved his shop from one corner to another. He’s seen the “Chicken-que,” a barbeque chicken sandwich, and shoestring fries come and go off the menu. He’s watched employees fall in love with one another and get married. He’s employed not one, but all four of his children — LeNee, Audra, Whitley and Baylee. He’s covered one too many shifts, and he’s watched the clock tick by on one too many slow Tuesdays.
Carroll lives by the mantra written on a card hanging on his desk, “Bosses are only as good as their employees.”
Each day Joshua Acree walks into work, his “Good morning” is met with the same witty response.
“I noticed that!” replies Carroll, adding a “How in the world are ya?”
Acree, a Chick-fil-A supervisor, said Carroll sometimes drags out narratives just to get a point across.
“He’s a huge storyteller,” Acree said. But a few minutes of listening is a small price to pay for “the best boss (he’s) ever worked for.”
Carroll, who declined to give his age, has been working since he was 12 years old. He’s been a gardener. He’s toiled with retail. He’s washed cars and changed their oil. He worked at a copper mill. He was a minister of music.
Fried chicken, however, is what stuck. “I was raised in the South,” Carroll said.
Carroll started working at Chick-fil-A as a regular employee when he was a student at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama.
He studied music education.
“If you heard me sing, you’ll know why I’m selling chicken,” Carroll said.
A self-proclaimed people person, Carroll said he liked his Chick-fil-A co-workers and customers so much that he began considering a future with the business.
Only two of the last 37 years have seen minor decreases in sales, and Carroll said the food chain has steadily grown over the years.
Acree said the mall location doesn’t get as much business as the one on Archer Road.
Carroll, dressed professionally with his brown hair neatly parted and a blue dress shirt tucked into slacks, waves to shoppers and other store employees as they walk by.
Three older women and two older men chatted at a table nearby.
“We come here almost every morning,” Maurita McKee said.
They know Steve, but its his store’s exceptional service that keeps them coming back.
They don’t even have to go up to the counter when their sweet tea runs out.
But as mall stores come and go, Carroll isn’t worried. He doesn’t plan on going anywhere.
“It’s been a fun ride,” he said, “and I’m going to go out with my boots on.”
[A version of this story ran on page 1 on 2/18/2015 under the headline “Man stands tall in last locally owned store in Oaks Mall"]
Correction: The original story said that Carroll's Chik-fil-A was the last independently owned store in the Oaks Mall. This was incorrect. The story has been updated to reflect the changes.
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Information from Kristal Kelly, marketing manager at The Oaks Mall.
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Information from Kristal Kelly, marketing manager at The Oaks Mall.
Steve Carroll, owner of the Oaks Mall’s last locally owned store, stands in Chick-fil-a and poses for a picture. Carroll’s restaurant opened in 1978 and was one of the mall’s original stores.