DATE: Monday, September 1, 1997             TAG: 9709010079

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B7   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LINDA McNATT, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:   66 lines

BENNETT'S CREEK MARKET TO CHANGE HANDS NEW OWNERS WILL EXPAND OFFERINGS, KEEP THE CHARM, FLAVOR, AND THE COW.

For decades, motorists on busy U.S. Route 17 have been hailed to the side of the road by a black and white cow and promises of good things to eat.

There was something for every season: peaches in late summer, collard greens in the fall, fresh turkeys for winter holidays, snaps and other greens in the spring.

Now, most of the charm and flavor of Bennett's Creek Farms Market will remain, but the Matthews family - which built the market in 1961 and has operated it for so long - is bowing out.

New owners will take over Tuesday, said Wendy Gillie, one of J.C. Matthews Jr.'s four children.

While the elder Matthews headed the operation, the children each had a place in the family-run grocery. Wendy Gillie was manager; daughter Pam O'Brine did the bookkeeping. Sons, Jodie and Phillip, took care of the family farming operation.

Except for her father, who hasn't actively worked in the market for about three years, Gillie said that the family will still be involved for a short time. And the family farm will continue to supply the market with fresh produce.

Wilson Garland, who will be running the market for the land purchaser, said that they expect the northern Suffolk area along U.S. Route 17 to ``explode.'' Because of that, they do have plans to make some changes in the landmark country store. The rescue squad, just behind the store, will remain where it is.

To enhance the kinds of products the market already carries, Garland said they will be adding upscale deli meats, breads and wines, things that residents in the growing area now are going to more metropolitan areas to purchase.

``We look at this as a golden opportunity,'' Garland said. ``The Matthews family has been doing a splendid job there. Not often do you get a premier operation that somebody is simply stepping down from.''

The history of the market goes back to the Bennett's Creek Farm Dairy, started during the Depression. When the dairy closed in 1955, the family opened a small restaurant. While the adults were running the restaurant, the Matthews children built a produce stand on Route 17, across from where the market is today.

J.C. Matthews Jr. built the market when the restaurant was sold.

But it's not just good eating that the family has contributed to. The Matthewses are known for their benevolence to the community. They donated land just behind the market for the Bennett's Creek Rescue Squad, allowed the local library to open a branch in a trailer next to the store and, for years, have allowed local schools to sell Christmas trees from the parking lot.

Still, the market may have been best known throughout Hampton Roads for the life-sized cow on the roof, moved there from the restaurant when it was sold. The cow once was stolen by vandals.

Before it was returned to its spot overlooking the four-lane highway, it was hit by a police car and damaged. The fiberglass Holstein was repaired and returned to its perch.

And the cow, J.C. Matthews Jr. said Friday, will be included in the sale.

``She's not going anywhere.'' ILLUSTRATION: JOHN H. SHEALLY II/The Virginian-Pilot

New owners will take over Bennett's Creek Farms Market, built in

1961, on Tuesday. Wendy Gillie, former manager and one of J.C.

Matthews Jr.'s four children, will remain involved in the Route 17

store for a short time and the family farm will continue to supply

the market with fresh produce.

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