The Heart of Hunt: Store Has Served Residents and Visitors for 80 years

The Hunt Store in 1946, when it was owned by Whit Zander and Bangs Kellogg

In small towns, there is often a place that is considered the heart of the community, a place where you take visitors who want a taste of the local culture or catch up on the latest news and visit with friends. The heart of a place can be in a church, a restaurant or a community center.

In Hunt, the heart of the community is an unpretentious general store that has served the community for 80 years — some people say the history goes further back.
Until the flood, the Hunt Store was known as a place to meet up with friends, get a bite to eat, listen to live music, stock up on essentials, and it was the last stop for miles where western-bound motorists could fill up their gas tank.

Abraham Whitlock “Whit” Zander and his wife, Sophia, came from Houston to Hunt in 1937. In 1938, Zander became the manager of the Hardin Grocery Store in Hunt, owned by A.B. “Bell” Hardin. Hardin’s store was located in a rock building, just east of where the Hunt Store now stands. The building also housed the Post Office and the Hunt Service Station.

The Zander Family - Gaye, Mary Ann, Sophia and Whit

In 1946, Zander left the Hardin Grocery Store and partnered with W.B. “Bangs” Kellogg to establish the Hunt Store at its present location. The partnership with Kellogg was dissolved in 1949, and Zander continued to run the Hunt Store until his retirement in 1958. During those years, the store was known by locals as either Zander’s Store or the Hunt Store.

At the end of World War II, Zander purchased used refrigeration equipment from the military and used it to preserve food at the store. For many residents of Hunt, this was the only refrigeration available, and they used the coolers at The Hunt Store to keep meats — mostly venison and beef — frozen until they were ready to use it.  

Harry and Marvel Rehm purchased the Hunt Store from Zander in 1958. They ran the store until their retirement in 1971, when the store was sold to Larry Graham.

It was Graham who renovated and enlarged the Hunt Store, doubling the store’s size. The façade of the building, including cedar posts and river rock, was built to mimic the features of a cabin built in the 1800s on Honey Creek. Later, after the nearby Hunt Service Station closed, gas pumps were added to the front of the store. To this day, the Hunt Store is the only source of gasoline between Ingram and Garven Store on the North Fork and between Ingram and Vanderpool on the South Fork of the Guadalupe River.

Over the following years, the store changed hands several times. In 2000, Jack and Janet Parks purchased the store from Bob Benson. One of the first upgrades the Parks added were new gas pumps that accepted credit and debit cards. With the new pumps, motorists could purchase gas outside of normal business hours.

Hunt Store Prior to the Flood

The Parks also filled the store with music. It started with a man named Gene, who called himself the “Guitar Man.” He would play in the store’s restaurant on Sunday afternoons. One Sunday, Gene asked Jack Parks if he knew local musician Junior Pruneda; Jack said he did. It wasn’t long before Pruneda and a band of local musicians were playing regularly on Sundays at the store.

In an interview, Jack Parks said when he first started offering music at the store, it didn’t cost him much to pay a band — mostly the pay was a free meal and a couple of beers.

From that time on, live music was a staple at the Hunt Store. In 2010, the Parks sold the store to a six-friend partnership, and the store has changed ownership a few times since then.

Facade of the Hunt Store after the Flood

In July, the store was severely damaged by the catastrophic flood that swept through Hunt. In spite of the damage, the store remained a gathering place, where you could get news and check up on your neighbors. Emergency supplies and food were made available in the store’s parking lot, and the letters from the Hunt Store sign were salvaged from the wreckage and rehung on the building to read “Hunt Strong.”

The store became a symbol of resilience, hope and survival to the shell-shocked residents in Hunt. 

Haley Lehrmann, who owns the Hunt Store today, is in the process of rebuilding. In February, she announced that she is converting a nearby, smaller structure into a “Mini Hunt Store” and will stock it with ice, milk bread, drinks, snacks, temporary fuel and other essentials while the original store is being rebuilt. Coffee is served in the store’s parking lot on Mondays, and a food truck often parks there during the week to serve food to local residents.

The heart of western Kerr County beats strong and continues to beat stronger as residents and businesses recover from the flood. The Hunt Store is one of those places where the heart beats the strongest.