JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- An early pioneer of the convenience store industry, Julian Jackson founded not one but two tremendously successful c-store chains: Jackson's Minit Marts and Lil Champs Food Stores. Jackson championed not only in business but in the boxing ring, culminating with a victory in the 1931 Southern Bantamweight Championship.
He used his success to give back to his Jacksonville, Fla., community, serving on the boards of everything from the United Cerebral Palsy to the Police Athletic League. With his passing on November 14, 2011, Julian Jackson leaves behind a legacy not just in how to run an accomplished c-store business, but how family and passion lead to success in life.
"My dad never asked anybody to do something he wouldn't do," Jackson's son and later business partner, Victor, told CSP Daily News. This passion ran deeper than a willingness to take on any task: History shows that Jackson simply couldn't stay away from the c-store industry. When Jax Meat Stores, Jackson's initial chain of grocery stores, was bought out in the 1950s, a no-compete contract lasting five years was part of the deal.
Noting the success 7-Eleven was having out west, Jackson spent that time developing sites so more than 30 Jackson Minit Marts were ready to open the minute the no-compete clause ran out. After merging with Magic Market in the '60s, Jackson found himself trapped in a similar situation.
"They were going to pay him a ton of money on the condition he didn't do anything," Victor said. "He was going nuts. He said, 'I'm gonna get out of this damn agreement--I don't want the money.' So he got out of it, and we started opening Lil Champ stores."
The Jackson family would stay involved with these stores until the chain of 525 sites was sold in 1997, widely recognized as one of the most successful convenience store chains in America.
Besides passion, the other pillar of Jackson's business strategy was family. Victor and his brother Eddie were directly involved, running the Lil Champ chain, while brothers Lester and Robert supplied the stores with alarm systems and soda-fountain equipment.
"Working as a family the way we did helped us understand the people who worked for us," Victor said. "We treated them like family."
There was a longstanding policy that any employee who called wanting to talk to a higher-up was put through immediately, no questions asked. Long before shows like Undercover Boss made it popular to spend one-on-one time with employees, the Jacksons were taking store managers on company cruises, at times booking 75 rooms for workers to take part in the fun.
(Click here for previous coverage CSP Daily News coverage of Undercover Boss.)
"Working as a family helps you understand the family dynamic and how that works with running a company," Victor said. "It was always instilled in us that you didn't get anything done sitting in the office. You can learn more in a week visiting the stores and talking to your employees than you could sitting behind a desk trying to cook up all kinds of schemes on how to run the company."
When asked how his father would want to be remembered by the c-store industry he helped pioneer, Victor, currently working in commercial real estate, speculates it would be "that he was fair and his door was always open." It was this open-door family policy that led Jackson to more than 64 years of success in the retail industry. You don't have to be a family member to learn something from the way Julian Jackson conducted his businesses, his family and his life.
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