Charlie Young

Charlie Young of Earle, Arkansas opens Young’s Grocery at five am, seven days a week, just as his father Yet Ming “Y.M.” Young did for almost fifty years. When the store first opened in 1945, it was one of many Chinese-owned grocery stores throughout the Delta that primarily served Black sharecroppers. Young’s Grocery is the only one of these stores still in operation eighty years later, and in that time, both the store and the Young family have become cornerstones of Earle’s community.

Y.M. Young first came to America from China in 1925 with his father, Ah Nun Young. Y.M. later temporarily returned to China to marry his wife, Go So Young, but because of exclusionary immigration laws targeting Chinese women, he was forced to leave her in China during World War II while serving in the U.S. military. It was only after the war that Y.M. was allowed to sponsor the entry of Go So and their first child into America. Once established in Arkansas, Y.M. learned how to run a business by working in a store owned by relatives in Wilmont, Arkansas before moving to Earle and opening Fong’s Ice Cream Shop with his cousin, T.K. Fong, in 1943. Two years later, Y.M. bought out the business, reopening as Young’s Super Market in 1945. The store gained popularity throughout the 1940s and 1950s as special sales and neighborhood advertisements brought in customers. In addition to selling grocery merchandise, candy, and cold cuts, every Friday the store sold fried rice made fresh by Y.M.’s wife, Go So Young. Y.M. and Go So worked long hours to keep the store open from five in the morning to seven at night every day of the year, including holidays. Y.M. joked that the store was open “eight days a week.”

Charlie grew up working in Young’s Grocery with his father. He credits Y.M. for teaching him how to work hard and run a business. After his parents retired in the early 2000s, Charlie and his wife, Elizabeth Young, took over running the store. They continue to keep it open seven days a week and sell fried rice on Fridays, just like Charlie’s parents did. Though the store has faced many difficulties over the decades, including tornadoes and fires, Young’s Grocery has adapted over its eighty years of operation to remain a successful business. The grocery is the only major store in Earle, selling goods – such as Black beauty products – that aren’t sold in other competing retail chains.  

In addition to managing the store, Charlie is an important leader in Earle’s community. In recent years, he has served as an Earle city councilman, and during his tenure helped secure funding for the construction of a new library in Earle, which is located across the street from Young’s Grocery. Charlie also stages an annual Fourth of July fireworks show, which draws hundreds of Earle’s residents every year, sponsors Earle’s Christmas parade, and donated the majority of the town’s Christmas lights. In recognition of Charlie’s contributions, in November 2025 Earle’s mayor Jaylen Smith held a ceremony to commemorate Young’s Grocery’s eighty years of service to the community.

Charlie attributes the decades-long success of the store to the lesson he learned from his parents: That success requires hard work and long hours, paying attention to which products customers want, and treating everyone as you would want to be treated. Though the store has faced many challenges over the years, through applying these lessons, Young’s Grocery remains a cornerstone of Earle’s community throughout the changing times.

Story by Kaylee Guthrie

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