Five-year-old Evan Scott munched on a white-frosted donut as he sat among piles of groceries in the basket of his mother’s cart.

Evan’s four-year-old brother, Dane, occupied the cart’s child seat, eating a chocolate chip cookie as their mom perused the produce department.

Becky Scott, a DeKalb resident, said she likes the new store’s atmosphere; it is less frenzied than other DeKalb shopping alternatives. Scott and her husband have six kids and she plans to shop three times a week at the new Sullivan’s Foods, 1401 S. Fourth St.

Scott and her sons were among a steady stream of shoppers greeted by a swarm of green-smocked Sullivan’s employees at the store’s grand opening Wednesday.

Sullivan’s President Scott Sullivan said the company was excited to open its 15th store, the fourth in four months.

Sullivan said the stores’ strengths are their perishable departments, such as their ‘scratch’ bakery. Unlike many other stores, Sullivan’s bakers begin baking goods from scratch at about 1 or 2 a.m., he said.

Sullivan also touted the store’s meat department.

Sullivan’s father, John, had worked eight years as a butcher before buying his first grocery store 39 years ago. Sullivan, a butcher himself, said the meat department was a matter of personal pride and carried recognized lines such as Black Angus beef.

The store, which replaced the old Eagle’s, may be the only grocery on DeKalb’s south side, but Sullivan plans to compete with other shopping alternatives in DeKalb.

Sullivan said the store will win customers with quality products, a bigger brand selection and competitive prices.

About 4,000 items are “on deal” every day, he said.

DeKalb resident Jori Ziegler waited for a friend just beyond the check-out lines with a cart overflowing with plastic white bags .

“I like it a lot,” Ziegler said.

Ziegler said her husband often criticizes her for spending too much money on groceries. For what she had in her cart, Ziegler said she paid about $200 and easily could have spent $250 on the same groceries at another DeKalb grocery store.

Doc Franklin, a DeKalb resident, said he had shopped at almost every other local grocery store in the old Eagle’s absence.

“I am thrilled that it’s back,” Franklin said. “I hated to drive 10 to 15 miles.”

Other customers are excited for the store, regardless of its distance from their home.

Carrie Williams, a DeKalb resident, said she was anxious to shop on DeKalb’s south side again even though she lives off of Twombly Road on the north side.

“I waited for today for the opening,” she said.

Williams said it is convenient for her to shop before she picks up her children at the Children’s Learning Center, 905 S. Fourth St.