Huff’s Market a Milledgeville tradition since 1950

Published 9:00 am Monday, August 22, 2022

Huff’s Market in Milledgeville has a history that dates to the 1950s. The exact year the business opened is a source of debate within the Huff family. William Huff, the great uncle of current owner Dylan Amerson, ran the store as a place where customers came and find almost everything. After Huff’s passing, Dylan’s great aunt Dorthy (also known as Aunt Dottie) ran the store until 2021. 

Dylan is a Milledgeville native who would grow up going to Huff’s Market, which wasn’t far from his home. His wife, Kensey, grew up in Atlanta and the two met during their time at Great Smoky Mountain National Park, where Kensey worked in the environmental education center. They spent a few years in the mountains before moving to Utah and then going back to the Smokies to be closer to their families in Georgia, where they originally planned to stay. 

When Kensey was pregnant with their son, Sawyer (now 1), Dylan’s mom explained that the family was in the process of figuring out what to do with his Aunt Dottie’s store. The biggest pro to returning to Milledgeville was being able to raise their son around family. That made their decision to buy and reopen Huff’s Market easier, despite their original intent to stay in the mountains.

Under Aunt Dottie, the store transformed into a gas station/convenience store from a general store that sold everything including feed and liquor. Dottie also made what the Amersons say were “the best biscuits and hamburgers in town.” With help from several different people, including community and family members, Kensey and Dylan worked hard to renovate the store. The renovations included a new paint job, luxury vinyl flooring (thanks to Scott Dispain and Custom Hardwood Floors) that replaced the carpet, new siding put up by Clear Choice Exteriors USA, and electrical help from Jack Wright. 

After the renovations, Kensey and Dylan officially reopened the store in April. While they do carry the essentials like milk, bread and eggs, the duo have placed an emphasis on also having Georgia grown and local products. 

‘“We carry a wide variety of Georgia and southeastern, small batch products from cheese straws to pickles to artisan chocolate to milk and cheese as well as a wide selection of local meat products from C&B Meat Market and Comfort Farms here in Milledgeville, Rocking A Farm in Washington County, and Liberty Farms outside of Crawfordville,” Kensey and Dylan explained via email. 

They also pick up fresh produce weekly from the Macon Farmers Market.

The business offers products that customers likely won’t be able to find anywhere else in Milledgeville and Huff’s Market does uses Aunt Dottie’s recipe to make biscuits and hamburgers. Customers will have to decide for themselves if the food is just as good as it was when Aunt Dottie made it, however. 

Huff’s Market has an official reopening ribbon cutting ceremony with the Milledgeville-Baldwin Chamber of Commerce scheduled for Thursday. According to Kensey and Dylan, the community response to Huff’s since reopening has been awesome, with great support on social media and plenty of new customers coming in daily. 

Huff’s Market was also recently honored as a Best of Georgia 2022 nominee. 

“It was quite a shock, honestly. We had only been open about 2 months when we got the nomination, and we are so honored that folks think of us that highly.”

That community is what keeps the husband-and-wife duo going every day at Huff’s. 

“Getting up at 5:15 am to get breakfast cooking isn’t always easy, but when we think about our regulars, and the folks on their way to school, and the linemen working to get high speed internet to middle Georgia and everyone else who is hopefully thinking ‘I’m heading to Huff’s for a biscuit this morning,’ or ‘can’t wait to get some Huff’s chicken salad’ it makes it a lot easier to get going so we can be there for our community.”