Dylan & Kensey Amerson
34 Milledgeville BY LEAH Scene BETHEA | 20 Under 40 2023
Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name .
A year into their new roles as small business owners , Dylan and Kensey Amerson are working to ensure that Huff ’ s Market is a place where patrons can do just that .
“ People joke that we ’ re kind of like ‘ Cheers ’ when they come in the door , but we ’ re really proud of the fact that if you come into the store more than five or six times , we ’ re gonna do our best to learn your name and learn what you ’ re here for ,” Dylan says .
The unique market that has become well loved for its broad selection of Georgia-grown products — not to mention its delicious breakfast and inviting atmosphere — has been in Dylan ’ s family for about 60 years . It was the couple ’ s desire for community that first led them back to Milledgeville to make the business their own .
Dylan , a Milledgeville native , met Kensey , who is from the Atlanta area , while they were both working in Tennessee at an environmental center in Great Smoky Mountains National Park . The two spent eight years working in outdoor education , first in Utah and then back in the Smokies again .
It was 2021 when Dylan ’ s mother called him one night to talk about what might happen to the Millledgeville store his great-aunt had run for years .
“ She asked if we had ever thought about buying it and taking it over ,” Dylan says .
The couple was pregnant with their son at the time . They had both been guiding full-time , and Dylan was away from home out in the field four days a week .
“ And we just couldn ’ t really figure out how we were going to keep that lifestyle going with a child , and we were really thinking about how we wanted for him to be raised …,” he says . “ We had acres of land , but we just didn ’ t have neighbors where he could grow up in a little community .”
Dylan approached Kensey with the idea the next morning .
“ And really without hesitation , she was like , ‘ I think we should really think about doing this . I think we could really make something really cool happen .’”
From the get go , the couple was clear that they wanted to make the store their own .
“ We weren ’ t really interested in just opening a convenience store , and it kind of just took a life of its own from there …,” Dylan says . “ We wanted it to have a little bit more of our style and be brighter and just a little bit more inviting than we felt like it was .”
The couple spent four months renovating the place , and last April , Huff ’ s Market officially reopened .
Nearly a year into business , one of the things the couple is proudest of is the fact that they carry about 30 Georgia-grown brands .
“ We try to keep it as local as possible ,” Kensey
says . “ Environmentally , it ’ s a little better . It ’ s less shipping … but really it ’ s just mostly supporting the local economy and your local community is what ’ s really important to us , and so [ we do ] that by buying local whenever we can even if it ’ s a little bit more expensive for ourselves and then our customers .”
In turn , the Amersons feel they offer higher quality products and a more personal experience all the way around .
“ Most of our vendors we get stuff from , we know by name ,” Kensey says . “ They do deliveries in person . They ’ re just so great to work with because you ’ re working with a friend , not just a big corporation .”
Meat sold in the store is bought locally . Some of their most popular products from other vendors are their cheese straws from both Athens-based and Twiggs County-based vendors , Satisfied Food Company ’ s pimento cheese and the milk products they pick up weekly from Rockhouse Creamery in Madison . Kensey makes her own chicken salad from scratch , and the couple also prepares all of the food served at their popular breakfast time themselves . “ We have a few people that sit at a table every morning and solve the world ’ s problems while they have their sausage biscuits ,” Dylan says .
Their ultimate hope is to be a local , community-based market mixed with food .
“ We are hoping that eventually you can point to just about anything in the store and we can tell you where it came from and who made it ,” Dylan says .
They want to emphasize value in the local product , even if it means patrons may pay a little more .
“ Obviously , we tell people , ‘ I don ’ t expect you to do all of your grocery shopping here ,’” Kensey says . What they will get , she says , is a high quality product they can take pride in .
“ And that the person who made it did a little happy dance when they bought it because that ’ s how they live is making something that someone cares about ,” she says .
Community is very much at the center of what they hope to become .
“ I ’ m speechless , honestly , when I think about how quick it ’ s taken off and how other people seem to have clung on to that idea of a central kind of community spot ,” Kensey says .
More than anything , they ’ re hopeful they can be impactful by providing a gathering place where patrons feel more connected to local farmers and vendors and where they can learn about what ’ s going on in their community .
“ We ’ re a place where we try to take a chance to slow down to where you can actually talk to somebody and ask how their family ’ s doing and give them a cupcake on their birthday ,” Dylan says .