About Utah: These guys aren't afraid of competition

When Robert L. retired, his son, Robert C., took over. The market later became Meier's Meats and eventually Meier's Catering Company, with yet another business, Meier's Chicken, joining the cartel.

Robert C.'s son, Robert K., is in charge of the catering company these days. Another son, Marshall, runs the meat counter and deli at The Store on the other side of Holladay Boulevard, and another son, Jeremy – Devin and Justin's dad – owns and runs Meier's Chicken.

One thing the new pharmacy in town doesn't have to worry about is lunch.

As the reigning patriarch of this bunch of all-American entrepreneurs, 86-year-old Robert C. Meier says he's proud of what his grandsons are tackling at the new drugstore.

"There's always room for a good pharmacy and a good business," he says. "They're honest young men and they know how to work. I think they'll do wonderful."

He recalled that he was a young man himself, just home from the war, when his father opened Meier's Market in 1948.

He remembers that was no sure thing.

"Safeway came in, then Albertsons came in," he says. "But we outlasted them all."

Sorta makes you wonder who's the real bully on this block, doesn't it?

Lee Benson's About Utah column runs Monday and Friday. Email: lbesnon@desnews.com