Franks Food Town in Draper Utah

A child's dream come true was to have your grandpa own a grocery store. A whole building filled with food and treats of every kind. He had over 50 grandchildren we were ALL his favorite. A father of 11 he experienced his share of heartaches such as his first child a baby girl was stillborn. He struggled to support his large family and tried  many business ventures.  I believe his greatest loss was the passing of the love of his life (my grandma) who passed away suddenly at their home in 1976. Widowed at 59 he was left alone to raise his youngest girls and to keep a large family together. We knew we were loved and we were a family. If we were at grandpa's for a quick trip. He would come out to the car and talk to our mom while behind his back he would sneak a bag of treats to us. All my relatives have a similar memories because he loved being a grandpa and he was a great one. He loved fishing trips with the the fathers and son's in our families and he told many many stories about the adventures they shared. He always kissed us goodbye and told us he loved us every single child and grandchild. He was truly a great example of love.
Sometimes I just miss him and my grandma. I happened to be thinking about him and googled his name and this popped up. It made me smile and miss him again.
Article on Frank's Food Town

The Unique Charm of Frank
As I walked into Frank’s Food Town in Draper, sometime in the early 1980’s, I asked for a pound of hamburger. I was told by the Frank Smith, the owner:
“Get out! Go somewhere else. We don’t sell hamburger here. Go down the street to one of our competitors. All we have is ‘ground steak.’ Just look at this certificate from the Utah Department of Health. It says we consistently have the ‘lowest percentage of fat in our ground steak of any institution in the country.’ Hamburger, humph!”
I started walking out of the door, dazed and confused. Frank’s son Lynn felt my pain and explained his dad did that for effect (just to newcomers) and invited me to return soon. I never dared ask for hamburger again. And I did return time and time again to shop at Frank’s Food Town.
My memories of the store invoke images of wood floors, fresh fruit and vegetables and the roasted chickens at the meat counter, especially prepared by Frank himself. You could order a steak as thick as you would like. The roasts were fresh and tasty. There was a wonderful aroma in the store.
The store was a unique haven of personality and service with the image of Hometown, USA stamped all it. One day, I was writing a check to purchase my ‘ground steak,’ and I produced my driver’s license for identification. Lynn’s wife said: “What’s that for? We believe you are who you say you are.” I was hooked, cooked, stick a fork in me done! They had my business forever after that.
The building was located on 9th East and 12300 South, and was a unique design that wrapped around the northwest corner. The downstairs was once the headquarters for a boxing club. Frank’s remained in business as long as possible, until the big box grocery stores came into town and undercut the lower volume prices of the Food Town. So much was lost in the hallowed name of competition. Businesses, like people, have different seasons of their existence. The story of this business, and especially the people who ran it, are an important part of Draper’s history, not to be forgotten. (Article submitted by: Rob Perry)
The way to preserve the history of a place, is to collect the stories and write them down. Do any other Draper residents have similar stories they would like to share. If so, please contact ????? at ?????.
http://www.draper.ut.us/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={71D4976B-9481-4CDF-BD80-CDD71D283AEA}&DE={E07A9C3B-046F-48DF-93D7-844D92679D17}