Jitney Jungle

Ghost Corp Apparel — resurrecting iconic corporate ghosts.

Jitney Jungle began in Jackson, Mississippi, on April 19, 1919, when Judson McCarty Holman, William Henry Holman Sr., and William Bonner McCarty opened a cash-and-carry, self-service grocery on East Capitol Street. Its famous promise—“Save a Nickel on a Quarter”—made the nickel itself feel like a tiny, jangling shareholder dividend.

The Jackson-based chain grew from Mississippi neighborhood groceries into a major southeastern supermarket operator. It embraced the automobile-era supermarket, opened a Jackson megastore near Interstate 55 in the 1970s, and expanded through acquisitions and new formats. By the late 1990s it operated nearly 200 stores, including Jitney Jungle, Delchamps, Sack & Save, Megamarket, and Premier locations.

The Holman and McCarty families kept control until a 1996 buyout by Bruckmann, Rosser, Sherrill & Co. The company then acquired Mobile-based Delchamps in 1997, adding scale—and an exhausting amount of debt. Jitney-Jungle filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on October 12, 1999.

In late 2000 and early 2001, its stores and related assets were sold through bankruptcy proceedings to Winn-Dixie, Bruno’s, and other buyers; the company shut down operations in 2001. The jungle had run out of quarters.

Our Jitney Jungle collection celebrates the bright signage, bargain-hunting swagger, and distinctly Southern supermarket spirit of a chain that made self-service shopping feel like an expedition.