Our Vision

In 1923, my grandfather, Sidney and grandmother, Mollie Ball, started a small neighborhood grocery store on the corner of 16th and Stewart in Kansas City, Kansas. They had no money to hire help, so the two of them ran the store from early in the morning until late evening. My grandmother called customers to share what we had for that day and kept the books; my grandfather stocked the shelves and went to the market to pick up his goods.

Today we currently run 25 stores that spread throughout the Kansas City metropolitan area under the brands of Hen House Market, Balls Price Chopper, Payless Discount Foods and Sun Fresh Market, with 3,000+ amazing teammates as a part of the Balls Food Stores Family. “Our grocery store,” as my grandfather said decades ago, “is only as good as the people who work there.” We are very blessed to have Dedicated Teammates who have created a great culture in our stores for our customers.

Balls Food Stores has come a long way since my grandparents opened their first store in 1923. We still live our vision today: To be the best run, friendliest supermarkets in town, where teammates are passionate about providing excellent customer service and where customers love to shop for great tasty food that is good for you.

David Ball